Source: Politics<\/p>\n
MIAMI \u2014 Matt Gaetz\u2019s former girlfriend has told friends <\/b>she\u2019s worried that the woman who is key to the federal government\u2019s sex-crimes investigation tried to get her to incriminate the Florida lawmaker on a recorded call.<\/p>\n
The revelation raises the possibility that federal prosecutors have two top cooperating witnesses: the woman who was an alleged sex-trafficking victim when she was a minor and the Gaetz associate already indicted for that crime<\/a>, former Seminole County Tax Collector Joel Greenberg.<\/p>\n Until now, there were signs the alleged sex-trafficking victim was not <\/b>cooperating with federal authorities. In August, prior to Greenberg\u2019s sex-trafficking indictment, Greenberg said in a WhatsApp chat with another friend<\/a> that he was paying for her attorney at the time and that she was resistant to cooperating with investigators.<\/p>\n Gaetz\u2019s former girlfriend has played a bit role in the unfolding public drama \u2014 she is the woman who sent the lawmaker a nude video of her performing a hula hoop dance that he showed to other members of Congress<\/a>.<\/p>\n But two of her friends, who declined to be identified publicly because of the sensational nature of the case, say she now suspects she was being set up when the alleged victim and another woman involved in the case called her to discuss the lawmaker in what she fears might have been a recorded conference call. The call took place sometime after Greenberg was indicted for the sex crime in August.<\/p>\n The friends did not provide details about exactly what was discussed, but one recounted that Gaetz\u2019s ex-girlfriend said she was opposed to talking to authorities and is now worried that prosecutors might try to charge her with obstructing justice in order to get to Gaetz.<\/p>\n Tim Jansen, an attorney for Gaetz\u2019s former girlfriend, declined to comment about his client. Greenberg\u2019s lawyer, Fritz Scheller, also declined to talk. Gaetz has strongly denied allegations he engaged in any sex crimes.<\/p>\n The three women on the call were all present on a September 2018 trip to the Bahamas<\/a> that authorities think may shed light on the allegations against Gaetz. Also present on that trip: <\/b>Gaetz and two other Florida Republican political players, former Orlando-area aviation authority member and Gov. Ron DeSantis fundraiser Jason Pirozzolo and former state Rep. Halsey Beshears.<\/p>\n POLITICO is withholding the names of the women who went to the Bahamas, including his ex-girlfriend, because of the sensitive nature of the case and the allegations that while there, some of the women engaged in prostitution.<\/p>\n As the investigation intensified this winter, Beshears abruptly resigned in January as Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation Secretary \u2014 a post that made him the state\u2019s top business regulator \u2014 noting he had contracted Covid-19. About that time, federal authorities seized the iPhones of Gaetz and his former girlfriend.<\/p>\n Federal authorities are examining the Bahamas trip to see if it violated the Mann Act, which forbids transporting people across state lines to engage in prostitution. One woman on the trip told POLITICO <\/b>that no one engaged in prostitution.<\/p>\n The alleged victim in the sex-trafficking case had turned 18 almost nine months before the Bahamas trip. But Gaetz has acknowledged he\u2019s the subject of a federal investigation into whether he had improper involvement with her as a 17-year-old.<\/p>\n A source familiar with the investigation wouldn\u2019t say whether the alleged victim was cooperating with authorities. But when asked if she has been talking for months with the federal government, the source said \u201c100 percent.\u201d<\/p>\n While the alleged sex-trafficking victim is key to the case against Greenberg and the allegations against Gaetz, the lawmaker\u2019s ex-girlfriend could play a pivotal role in the investigation of the trip, as well as other related controversies.<\/p>\n