Matt Gaetz's accusers don't want to testify in public, their lawyer says

Source: NBC News

Nov. 19, 2024, 5:35 PM EST


WASHINGTON — A lawyer for two women who have accused former Rep. Matt Gaetz of paying them for sex said in an interview with NBC News that his clients do not want to testify publicly after providing closed-door testimony to the House Ethics Committee this year.

The two women previously told the House Ethics Committee that Gaetz paid them for sex multiple times and that one of them witnessed him having sex with a friend who was 17 years old at the time, Orlando-based attorney Joel Leppard told NBC News in an interview Monday. His clients now "hope to put pressure on the House to release the contents of the investigation" and avoid having to publicly rehash the same allegations, Leppard said. "That would be, basically, a worst-case situation for them, is to be forced to out themselves in public," he added.

Last week, President-elect Donald Trump announced Gaetz, a conservative rabble rouser during his nearly eight years in the House, as his pick for attorney general. Gaetz officially resigned from office after Trump’s announcement, leaving it uncertain whether the House Ethics Committee that had investigated him over the last three years will release its final report. (The committee only has jurisdiction over sitting members of Congress.)

Leppard said his clients only spoke to the Ethics Committee after receiving a subpoena and would only testify in public "with a valid legal subpoena that requires them to speak."

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/matt-gaetz-accusers-dont-want-testify-public-lawyer-says-rcna180807