By Jacqueline Alemany, Liz Goodwin · The Washington Post (c) 2024
An unidentified person appears to have accessed documents shared among lawyers in a lawsuit that concerns allegations against former congressman Matt Gaetz (R-Florida), according to a person who received an email notifying them of the breach. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter.
The file contains unredacted sworn testimony from a woman who said Gaetz paid to have sex with her when she was 17, along with other depositions from witnesses involved in the case, said a person who was notified of the hack, which was first reported by the New York Times. Gaetz has denied having sex with anyone underage or paying for sex.
A person named “Altam Beezley” downloaded the exhibits, according to a confirmation email received from a shared file database.
“I have not been able to identify the person who downloaded the files, but I have contacted the email address provided, asking the person to identify him or herself, instructing that their access is not authorized, and telling them that they should destroy the materials they downloaded,” wrote the lawyer who discovered the breach. “My email was returned because the email address was not found.”
If the files are released publicly, they could identify the women who have testified against Gaetz.
Gaetz, who resigned from Congress last week after being tapped by Trump to run the Justice Department,has been trying to shore up his shaky support among a faction of Republican senators, making calls to Judiciary Committee members and saying he’d be able to clear his name at a confirmation hearing.
The GOP will have a 53-seat majority next year, and could not lose four or more votes on his nomination, given it’s unlikely any Democrat would vote for Gaetz. More than four Republican senators have already raised questions about his path forward.
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), the incoming chair, has spoken to Gaetz and urged him to talk to both Democratic and Republican members of the committee, according to a person familiar with the conversation.
Grassley and some other Republicans have said they want to see the House Ethics Committee’s findings into Gaetz. Others have said the committee could call the women to testify in front of the hearing even if they don’t have access to the report.
“The truth is, the information is going to come out one way or the other,” Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said Monday. “So I guess the more I thought about it, it’s not critical that they release a report, because we know roughly who the witnesses are” and will call them in front of the Judiciary Committee, he said.
Florida attorney Joel Leppard said in an interview with The Washington Post last weekend that one of his clients witnessed Gaetz having sex with the minor at a drug-fueled party in July 2017 – and that Gaetz was unaware of her age at the time but subsequently was told she was underage.
This woman and a second woman, also represented by Leppard, testified that they were paid by Gaetz to have sex with him and other individuals who attended these “sex parties.” They were paid through Venmo or other conduits – including the PayPal of Nestor Galban, whom Gaetz has referred to as his “adopted son.”
Leppard said his clients do not want to testify in front of the Senate committee.
“They’ve already been through so much – and each time it happens, it kind of rips apart an old wound,” said Leppard. “They really don’t want to be called in to testify. There’s a lot of facts out there, they’ve given a lot of testimony, provided countless hours and documents to the House, and they don’t want to see it go to waste.
What were the FBI and DOJ findings?
Why did they CLOSE the case?