Matt Gaetz once faced a sex trafficking investigation by the Justice Department that he could now lead

WASHINGTON – President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for attorney general, Representative Matt Gaetz of Florida, was once embroiled in a sex trafficking investigation he has been appointed leader by the Ministry of Justice, and he is under police supervision House Ethics Committee over allegations including sexual misconduct.

However, that investigation effectively ended Wednesday when Gaetz resigned from Congress.

Gaetz, a staunch Trump defender, has been working on it for years embroiled in scandals that threaten to derail his confirmation as the nation’s top federal law enforcement official by the Republican-led Senate.

Gaetz has vehemently denied all allegations. and said last year that the Justice Department’s investigation into sex trafficking allegations involving underage girls had ended without federal charges being filed against him.

Trump’s attorney general is expected to oversee radical changes to the Justice Department, which has been the target of Trump’s ire. about two criminal cases it brought him to be accused conspiring to overturn the 2020 election And hoarding secret documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate. Trump, who has branded himself a victim of politically motivated prosecutions, repeatedly promised to hit the campaign trail to carry out retaliation against his political enemies when he returns to the White House.

It is unlikely that Gaetz would be confirmed in time to oversee special counsel Jack Smith, who filed two federal charges against Trump both of which are expected to end before the new president takes office. Smith is expected to leave his post before Trump takes office, but special counsels are expected to prepare reports on their work that have historically been made public, and it remains unclear when such a document could be released.

In a statement Wednesday announcing his pick, Trump said Gaetz would root out “systemic corruption” at the Justice Department and return the department “to its true mission: fighting crime and upholding our democracy and Constitution .”

In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, Gaetz wrote: “It will be an honor to serve as President Trump’s Attorney General!”

Hours before the announcement, Gaetz said in a social media post that a “full legal press against this ARMED government” is needed. He added, “And if that means abolishing all the three-letter agencies, from the FBI to the ATF, then I’m ready to get to work!” If appointed attorney general, he would oversee both the FBI and the ATF, formally known as the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

During a private meeting of Republicans in the House of Representatives, the news that Trump had selected Gaetz to lead the Justice Department caused a shock. Republican Rep. Mike Simpson of Idaho said he finds it hard to believe Gaetz will be able to pass the Senate confirmation process. Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska said she did not believe Gaetz was a serious candidate.

Some of Gaetz’s allies in the House of Representatives defended him as Trump’s choice, citing his experience as a member of the House Judiciary Committee. Asked Wednesday whether she thinks Gaetz could be confirmed, Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, a fellow Republican from Florida, told reporters that many will try to “smear him” but “the evidence will speak for itself.”

The federal sex trafficking investigation that began under Attorney General Bill Barr during Trump’s first term focused on allegations that Gaetz and former political ally Joel Greenberg paid underage girls and escorts or offered them gifts in exchange for sex.

Greenberg, a fellow Republican who served as a tax collector in Florida’s Seminole County, admitted as part of a plea deal with prosecutors in 2021 saying he paid women and an underage girl to have sex with him and other men. The men were not identified in court documents when he pleaded guilty. Greenberg was convicted at the end of 2022 to 11 years in prison.

Federal investigators were looking into a trip Gaetz took to the Bahamas with a group of women and a doctor who donated to his campaign, and whether the women were paid or received gifts to have sex with the men, according to people familiar with the matter and they are not allowed to discuss the research publicly. Prosecutors also investigated whether Gaetz and his associates tried to secure government jobs for some women, and investigated Gaetz’s connections to the government. medical marijuana industryincluding whether his associates tried to influence legislation that Gaetz sponsored, the people said.

Gaetz remained under investigation by the House Ethics Committee over allegations that he was part of a scheme that led to the sex trafficking of a 17-year-old girl.

The committee started her evaluation of Gaetz in April 2021, postponed her work in response to a request from the Department of Justice, and renewed her work shortly after Gaetz announced that the Justice Department had ended a sex trafficking investigation.

Over the summer, the committee provided an unusual public update on its long-running investigation, saying its probe now includes whether Gaetz engaged in sexual misconduct and illegal drug use, accepted inappropriate gifts and attempted government investigations into hinder his behavior. Gaetz has categorically denied all allegations before the committee.

Rep. Michael Guest, the Republican chairman of the House Ethics Committee, had told The Associated Press that Gaetz’s appointment did not change the panel’s ongoing investigation. But Gaetz’s resignation means the commission no longer has the jurisdiction to continue its investigation.

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Associated Press writers Eric Tucker, Lisa Mascaro, Michael Balsamo and Stephen Groves contributed from Washington.