Really Bad News For Matt Gaetz: The DOJ Just Obtained Immunity For His Ex-Girlfriend
Her Testimony May Be Bad For Him, What It Means About The Investigation Is Worse
This past week has been really bad for Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fl) as he faces a federal investigation into allegations that he engaged in sex trafficking and obstruction of justice. According to CNN and CBS News, Matt Gaetz’s ex-girlfriend (not named in the story) had immunity conferred upon her and she testified before the Grand Jury. This is really bad news for Gaetz for three reasons:
The process of obtaining immunity requires approval from the highest tiers of the Department of Justice;
The ex-girlfriend’s testimony is likely to be extremely damaging to Rep. Gaetz;
Someone leaked the fact that the ex-girlfriend testified before the grand jury.
I will explain below, after a brief overview of where the case against Rep. Gaetz stood before this news.
Rep. Matt Gaetz Was Already The Subject Of A Federal Investigation Into Sex Trafficking and Obstruction Of Justice
In March 2021, the news was filled with stories that Rep. Matt Gaetz was under investigation for possible sex trafficking in connection with his relationship with a girl who was 17 at the time of her relationship with Gaetz. According to the reports, federal prosecutors were investigating the possibility that Gaetz was (a) paying for the 17 year old for sex with cash and extravagant gifts and (b) arranging for her to travel across state lines for sexual encounters. At the time, Gaetz responded, “It is verifiably false that I have traveled with a 17-year-old woman,” which really was no answer, because he would violate the sex trafficking statute (Title 18, United States Code, Section 1591) if he “in or affecting interstate or foreign commerce . . . recruits, entices, harbors, transports, provides, obtains, advertises, maintains, patronizes, or solicits by any means a person . . . knowing . . . that the person has not attained the age of 18 years and will be caused to engage in a commercial sex act.” In short, if Rep. Gaetz arranged for someone under the age of 18 to travel to engage in paid sex, he violated the law.
When the news of the Gaetz investigation broke, it was already known that there was at least one important witness against him — Joel Greenberg. Mr. Greenberg was a good friend of Rep. Gaetz1 and had been elected the Tax Collector of Seminole County, Florida. Greenberg, himself, had been indicted for sex trafficking for his relationships with underage girls.
By October 2021, the investigation into Rep. Gaetz had intensified. Joel Greenberg had pled guilty to sex trafficking (of Gaetz’s 17 year old ‘girlfriend’ — who I will refer to as “Minor #1”)) and was cooperating with prosecutors. The Justice Department had added two veteran prosecutors to the team of local AUSAs in Florida — one from the public corruption unit and the other a veteran of sex trafficking prosecutions.
That is where the public knowledge of the Gaetz investigation stood, until last week.
Obtaining Immunity Requires Approval From The Highest Ranks Of The DOJ and An Order By A Federal Judge
As noted in the introduction, last week the Department of Justice obtained an order granting immunity to Minor #1 to compel her to testify before the grand jury. Obtaining an immunity order requires prosecutors to follow a long and difficult procedure. This procedure would occur only after the witness (Minor #1) invoked the Fifth Amendment to refuse to testify on the grounds that her answers might incriminate her.
First, the AUSAs would have to prepare a written memorandum, seeking approval from the local United States Attorney. That memo has to lay out the state of the investigation into Rep. Gaetz, the expected testimony from the witness to be immunized, and why that testimony is important to the investigation.
If the United States Attorney approves the memorandum, the memorandum must be sent to the Department of Justice where it must be approved by (a) the Attorney General, (b) the Deputy Attorney General, (c) the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, or (d) one of the Deputy Assistant Attorneys General for Civil Rights.
Only if the leadership of the DOJ approves are the prosecutors authorized to seek an order of immunity. Under Title 18, United States Code, Section 6003, the Court can issue the order of immunity only if: “(1)the testimony or other information from such individual may be necessary to the public interest; and (2)such individual has refused or is likely to refuse to testify or provide other information on the basis of his privilege against self-incrimination.”
Because the immunity order was granted, we know that the prosecution cleared all of these procedural hurdles. Minor #1 is represented by Tim Jansen, a leading Florida criminal practitioner. Based on my training and experience as an AUSA and criminal defense attorney, it is virtually certain that Mr. Jansen provided the investigators with a preview of Minor #1’s testimony (in a process called an “attorney proffer”). The AUSAs then would have incorporated that attorney proffer into the memorandum that they used to obtain the immunity order.
The Ex-Girlfriend’s Testimony Is Likely To Be Credible And Damaging To Rep. Gaetz
Although I do not know what Minor #1 said to the grand jury, my training and experience tells me that her testimony is likely to be both credible and damaging to Rep. Gaetz. Minor #1 is likely to have literally “kept the receipts” for her interactions with Rep. Gaetz. This would include receipts for purchases, emails, text messages, and encrypted messages (such as WhatsApp). In March 2021, Rep. Gaetz told the press that he believed that he was being investigated for his “generosity” to Minor #1. If that “generosity” looks like pay-for-sex, she will have told that story to the Grand Jury. I cannot imagine that the AUSAs investigating this matter would have sought an immunity order unless Minor #1 had a compelling story to tell.
Minor #1 will have credibility in telling her story that Joel Greenberg does not for one very important reason — she is not a convicted criminal seeking to reduce a sentence. She is a minor victim of a predatory older man. We have seen in the near-universal revulsion towards Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell and Prince Andrew that there has been a fundamental change in how the public views older men who prey upon teenage girls who are induced into prostitution.
Obtaining Immunity and Grand Jury Testimony Are Secret, But Someone Leaked
The final reason why things look bleak for Rep. Gaetz is that news of this immunity order and grand jury testimony became public. Immunity orders are ordinarily issued in secret, under a pseudonym. Grand jury testimony is always secret, protected by Rule 6(e)(2)(B) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure. Nonetheless, this story became public. This tells me that someone connected to the investigation is putting the story into the public domain. That ordinarily only happens when an indictment is imminent.
CONCLUSION
I do not know if Rep. Gaetz will be indicted. If he were to be indicted, I do not know if he would be convicted. I do know that Rep. Gaetz is at significant risk of being indicted. I do know that if he is indicted, he would be facing an elite team of federal prosecutors. I do know that if he is convicted, he would be facing a mandatory minimum 10 year prison term.
It is not a good time to be Matt Gaetz.
DEDICATION: To Rep. Matt Gaetz: "Seventeen" by Winger