Congressman Matt Gaetz told a former White House aide that he had asked then-President Donald Trump for a pardon after being investigated for sex trafficking.
Floridas Gaetz is currently being investigated in a federal sex trafficking probe involving a 17-year-old girl.
The teenager claims Gaetz paid her to travel across the state line to have sex with him, and the congressman was investigated after a close friend was convicted of similar charges.
He has denied the sex-trafficking allegations against him, and no charges have been filed against him.
Johnny McEntee, who served as director of the White House Presidential Personnel Office in the Trump administration, told investigators into the January 6 attack on the US Capitol that Gaetz was looking to be pardoned by Trump.
According to the Washington Post, Gaetz told McEntee that ‘they are launching an investigation into him or that there’s an investigation into him.’
He did not specify who was investigating Gaetz but added that the congressman told him that he ‘did not do anything wrong but they are trying to make his life hell, and you know if the president could give him a pardon, that would be great.’
Married Gaetz asked for a pre-emptive pardon from White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, with McEntee confirming it was in relation to Gaetz allegedly violating sex trafficking laws.
Gaetz is currently being investigated in a federal sex trafficking probe involving a 17-year-old girl
A former White House aide has told the January 6 committee investigating the Capitol riots that Gaetz, left, was trying to be pardoned by then-President Trump
Johnny McEntee, who served as Director of the White House Presidential Personnel Office, claims that Gaetz told him that ‘they are launching an investigation into him or that there’s an investigation into him’
It is the first indication that Gaetz was specifically seeking a pardon for the probe against him, after months of calling for broad pardons in the final months of the Trump administration.
McEntee added that Gaetz met him one evening to discuss the issue of a pardon, but that he could not remember if that took place before or after the Capitol riots.
The Department of Justice is still investigating whether Gaetz paid for sex, or paid for women to travel across stateliness for sex and if he had a sexual relationship with the teenager.
It was opened during the final moths of Trump being in power, with the approval of Attorney General William Barr.
The probe was sparked after a federal investigation of Gaetz’s friend being convicted of sex trafficking.
Married Gaetz reportedly asked for a pre-emptive pardon from White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows
Joel Greenberg, a friend and colleague of Gaetz, pleaded guilty last year to six criminal charges, including sex trafficking of a minor
A spokesman for Gaetz said: ‘Congressman Matt Gaetz discussed pardons for many other people publicly and privately at the end of President Donald Trump’s first term.
‘As for himself, President Trump addressed this malicious rumor more than a year ago stating, “Congressman Matt Gaetz has never asked me for a pardon.”
‘Rep. Gaetz continues to stand by President Trump’s statement.’
Gaetz friend Joel Greenberg pleaded guilty last year to six criminal charges, including sex trafficking of a minor.
He has been working with prosecutors and provided them with information about Gaetz since 2020.
After losing the election in 2020, Gaetz told Fox that Trump should ‘pardon everyone from himself to his administration officials to Joe Exotic if he has to.’
He also denied having a relationship with a minor, saying ‘the last time I had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old, I was 17.’
McEntee added that Gaetz met him one evening to discuss the issue of a pardon, but that he could not remember if that took place before or after the Capitol riots
Gaetz, pictured with Joel Greenberg and Ron DeSantis, has denied the allegations of sex trafficking. Greenberg has been working with prosecutors and provided them with information about Gaetz since 2020
Cassidy Hutchinson, a top White House aide to Meadows, also told the Jan 6 committee that Gaetz had been ‘personally pushing’ for a pardon since ‘early December.’
She added: ‘I’m not sure why Mr. Gaetz would reach out to me to ask if he could have a meeting with Mr. Meadows about receiving a presidential pardon.’
Former Trump White House lawyer, Eric Herschmann, also told investigators that he believed Gaetz was seeking a pardon.
In his deposition, Herschmann said: ‘The general tone was, we may get prosecuted because we were defensive of, you know, the president’s positions on these things.
‘The pardon that he was discussing requesting was as broad as you can describe, from the beginning — I remember he is — from the beginning of time up until today for any and all things.
‘Then he mentioned Nixon. And I said Nixon’s pardon was never nearly that broad.’
Gaetz did not receive a pardon from the former president.