FIRST ON CNN: DOJ officially decides not to charge Matt Gaetz in sex-trafficking probe

[BumRushDaShow]

Last edited Wed Feb 15, 2023, 03:34 PM - Edit history (1)

Source: CNN

CNN — The Justice Department has informed lawyers for at least one witness that it will not bring charges against Florida GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz after a years-long federal sex-trafficking investigation. Senior officials reached out to lawyers for multiple witnesses on Wednesday, a source familiar with the matter told CNN, to inform them of the decision not to prosecute Gaetz. The final decision was made by Department of Justice leadership after investigators recommended against charges last year.

“We have just spoken with the DOJ and have been informed that they have concluded their investigation into Congressman Gaetz and allegations related to sex trafficking and obstruction of justice and they have determined not to bring any charges against him,” Gaetz’s lawyers, Marc Mukasey and Isabelle Kirshner, said in a statement.

The congressman’s office said in a separate statement that the department informed them the investigation has ended and no charges will be brought. The DOJ’s formal decision not to charge Gaetz, who has been serving in Congress since 2017, marks the end of a long-running investigation into allegations that the congressman violated federal law by paying for sex, including with women who were younger than 18 years old.

Gaetz has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing. Prosecutors working on the case recommended against charging Gaetz in September, in part, because of questions over whether central witnesses in the investigation would be perceived as credible before a jury, CNN reported at the time. But the final decision not to move forward with charges came from senior department officials. The DOJ declined to comment.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/15/politics/matt-gaetz-justice-department

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Article updated.

Original article -

CNN — The Justice Department has informed lawyers for at least one witness that it will not bring charges against Florida GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz after a years-long federal sex-trafficking investigation, according to a source familiar with the matter.

Senior officials reached out to lawyers for at least one witness on Wednesday, the source tells CNN, to inform them of the decision not to prosecute Gaetz.

The final decision was made by Department of Justice leadership after investigators recommended against charges last year.


This story is breaking and will be updated.

[Firestorm49]

1. What a shock! And then there was Epstein's little black book. NT

[Autumn]

2. Need a name change. Department of Justice for the Wealthy and Powerful.

[NullTuples]

22. Or just the Federalist Society well-connected?

From the Federalist (CW for far right wing rhetoric):

"The FBI’s Matt Gaetz Operation Sidelined An Effective Republican Voice At A Crucial Time. That Was The Point"
https://thefederalist.com/2022/09/26/the-fbis-matt-gaetz-operation-sidelined-an-effective-republican-voice-at-a-crucial-time-that-was-the-point/

[Autumn]

25. A lot of people have no clue what the Federalist Society is.

[NullTuples]

27. Journalists had one job...

[Hekate]

37. DUers read. What are we reading if not what journalists are writing? People who limit their input to

…FOX and its ilk are misled — but that is not the fault of actual journalists, who by and large write for newspapers, and journals.

DUers knew who and what Trump was by the time he got to the bottom of the golden escalator. How? Secret spirits whispering in our ears? No. Journalists.

I trust you get the point. They do their job — it is up to the citizens of this country to do our job.

[NullTuples]

38. We seek out sources we trust; many people simply trust whatever source is the loudest.

[littlemissmartypants]

54. Most just see what is thrust upon them by the algorithms of their preferred

Social Media providers. The content bias then balloons exponentially from there. Also, misinformation, as is broadly documented, outnumbers the truth which means that those biases are compounded by a lack of verifiable content. I believe that the problem is definately more complex than any discussion of it here. ❤️

[RocRizzo55]

41. Nah. More like the "Departmant of Just Us." nt

[Freethinker65]

3. So guy was investigated and found to be a slimeball preying on young girls

But not slimy enough to charge, because this sort of stuff happens all of the time and the girls willingly went to join Matt to make some easy money.

Matt paid young women for sex and even shared photos from his cell phone to fellow legislators on the House floor and the family values GOP says "meh" while ogling.

[barbtries]

4. that's cool.

perverts in the House!

i hate republicans. and i'm sick of a DOJ apparently afraid of its own shadow.

[onecaliberal]

5. Department of NO justice for raped girls.

[NH Ethylene]

6. Investigators recommended no charges last year.

It's possible there wasn't enough evidence and for a political hot potato they would want a slam dunk.

[NullTuples]

23. Sometimes even a loss at least gets the message out about a slimeball like him.

Republicans have done far worse just to ruin someone's reputation on a political whim.

[NH Ethylene]

44. We need to NOT be doing prosecutions that smell like politics.

We need to save all our credibility for the Big Case

[Fiendish Thingy]

30. IIRC, The only public physical evidence was a couple of Venmo receipts

Everything else was rumours that apparently weren’t confirmed under oath, by Greenberg or anyone else.

I hope Greenberg enjoys his 11 years in prison.

[SledDriver]

7. In case you were wondering what was said to Gaetz during the Speaker vote

There's your answer.

[stopdiggin]

45. because the 'higher ups' at Justice

desperately wanted Kevin McCarthy as speaker? Where did that little tidbit come from?

[MuseRider]

8. Oh come on "lady people"

why be mad?

Isn't that what we are made for?

Think about it, just close your eyes and be happy that someone wants you.

I have actually heard those words over my many years of objecting to being teased for not going places, like bars, by myself at night. Now it is going anywhere at night and quite frankly there are many if not most places where you are never really safe.

But still, he wants you and that should be enough, am I right?

[Happy Hoosier]

9. I sure hope this isn't a sign of things to come.

I am very concerned that DoJ doesn;t have the stomach to really go after the bad guys. I hope I am wrong.

[Initech]

14. I know, it's truly infuriating.

Trump shouldn't be allowed to get away with spewing his hate the way he does, and the fact that he still hasn't been charged with anything for Jan. 6th is maddening.

[Happy Hoosier]

17. I'm trying not spiral downward on this....

... but I honestly believe that if DOJ does not hold the top-level inurrectionists (not just the goober-level minions) responsible, the Republic really is in absolute mortal danger. If there are no consequences to this attempt at authoritarianism, there will be another attempt. And they will be bolder, and very likely to succeed.

[quakerboy]

46. I think we are well past danger and "if"

The question remaining is can we claw back from the edge we went over.

[Cheezoholic]

10. "Thanks Daddy"

His whole family are corrupt POS's

[samplegirl]

11. Bastards!

Matt Gaetz free passs to do even worse things!

[3auld6phart]

12. Gutless

Another piece of shit above the law.

[Initech]

13. BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

[llashram]

15. and another one gets away

and an insurrectionist at that... all the RWers don't understand. A storm is brewing on this. Do they think "the south will rise again"? And the supremacists are going to have their paradise this time? ummnahah!!! Trumpers were really hoping 1/6 would have given them trump as dictator.

[Xoan]

16. Florida man walks ...

more to follow.

[Paladin]

18. Somebody send Gaetz an 8" X 10" picture of Merrick Garland.

Gaetz can get it framed and put it on his office wall.

[CrispyQ]

19. Little Matty's gonna be so full of himself it will be...

What will they all say about that nasty partisan DOJ, now? We'll show them! We'll go one further & let Donald Trump walk, too! Then they'll know we're not partisan!

And we kicked Al Franken out for a sexist comedy routine.

[Kid Berwyn]

20. Whew!

That was close.

[calimary]

42. Three Willfully Blind Mice.

Could slightly adjust to “Three Willfully Blind Lice” and it’d be even more accurate.

[Catherine Vincent]

43. Damn

Look at the size of that piehole.

[quakerboy]

47. Was it close?

Seems like there was never any real danger for him or any other republican or consorting politician

[Scrivener7]

21. Shocked. Shocked, I tell you.

[IronLionZion]

24. Sleazy but not illegal

a lot of these sleazeballs know how to walk the line

[mn9driver]

26. If the investigation is closed, perhaps it's time for some FOIA lawsuits.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

28. Gaetz is lucky that his co-conspirator would be a bad witness

Link to tweet

[Fiendish Thingy]

29. The whole case against Gaetz revolved around Greenberg's testimony

And apparently Greenberg didn’t deliver the goods on Gaetz. Perhaps he testified against others- but since there was so little physical evidence, the case against Gaetz depended on the testimony of first hand witnesses.

Greenberg apparently led the feds on for over a year, as they kept asking for sentencing delays, saying he said he had more information to offer.

Until/unless we find out who did testify and what they said, This story is by no means complete, but folks will jump to their own conclusions based on their emotional reactions to this decision.

[Autumn]

32. It's complete for Getz. Does Representative Greenberg matter?

[hadEnuf]

31. Of course the fucking Republican skeezeball skates. Happens all the time. We should be used to it.

Accusations and charges are for Democrats, while the DOJ buries itself under a mountain of paperwork looking for what seems to be any excuse not to charge obvious Republican criminals.

We needed to hurl a wildcat at Trump and his fascists but instead we got Mr. Milquetoast.

Fuck it.

[infullview]

33. Money talks.

That is all.

Epstein (hung himself?)
DC Madam (hung herself?)
Leola McConnell (disappeared?)

Sex games of the rich and powerful never seem to end well for their playmates either.

[kimbutgar]

34. BS Gaetz's daddy's money shut down that investigation in Florida via the FBI there

So much corruption in Florida is so astounding to me.

[onecaliberal]

35. Why did Joel Greenberg get 11 years? Just like Michael Cohen goes to jail, but not co-conspirator.

[Joinfortmill]

39. Who knows what else they are looking at regarding Gaetz. Just saying.

[PlutosHeart]

40. That was my first thought.

Sometimes bringing charges on one thing mucks it up for something else.

[Joinfortmill]

50. We can hope.

[hamsterjill]

48. I'm sorry but, are you serious?

This seems a bit absurd to me. They could nail the asshole on more than one charge.

This is not a surprise to me and I wouldn’t expect further charges to be forthcoming. Garland is milk toast.

[Joinfortmill]

51. Time will tell. I'd love to meet Merrick Garland. I didn't realize you knew him.

[hamsterjill]

53. Funny.

I didn’t realize you did, either.

Wake me up when he does something, okay?

[iemanja]

56. Time did tell

This is a public announcement saying he will not be charged. This pretense of action behind the scenes is ridiculous. Why is it so difficult to face reality? DOJ has made clear what the result is.

[Marthe48]

49. Why not prosecute?

Drag the pervert through the court system. If he loses, ok. If doj loses, would the pervert live it down?

I'm sick of the tiptoe around political figures. No wonder so many criminals go into politics. Like a get out of jail free card.

[republianmushroom]

52. Got it

money, politics and DoJ

[iemanja]

57. Garland being perfect again.

[malthaussen]

55. So the perp walks again.

Excuse me, alleged perp.

-- Mal

[newdayneeded]

58. LONG arm of the law....

or something like that. Man, Garland is relentless!!!! He must work 12 to 15 hours a day with his efforts to let the right wing slide. Takes a lot of diligence hard work to maintain his impeccable track record!

He sure is doing great putting Bubba Wilson and Billy Bob Smith in prison for 3 months though!!