Earlier today, the Wall Street Journal reported about how the US Justice Department has been investigating whether Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl and paid her to travel with him, people familiar with the matter said.

Investigators are examining whether Mr. Gaetz, a close ally of former President Donald Trump, violated federal sex-trafficking laws, the people said. Those laws make it illegal to transport someone younger than 18 across state lines to engage in sex.

The investigation, first reported by the New York Times, began last year when Mr. Trump was president, the people said. Senior Justice Department officials, including some Trump appointees, were briefed in the summer, they said.

“No part of the allegations against me are true,” Mr. Gaetz, 38, said in a statement that alleged they were part of a concerted effort to blackmail him.

The probe is looking in part at whether Mr. Gaetz had inappropriate contact with a girl about two years ago when she was 17, the people said. The Justice Department’s examination of Mr. Gaetz is connected to an investigation of Joel Greenberg, a local official in Florida who court documents show was indicted in August on sex-trafficking charges related to a girl between the ages of 14 and 17. Mr. Greenberg pleaded not guilty last year and is scheduled for trial in June. He couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.

In his statement, Mr. Gaetz said: “Over the past several weeks my family and I have been victims of an organized criminal extortion involving a former DOJ official seeking $25 million while threatening to smear my name. We have been cooperating with federal authorities in this matter and my father has even been wearing a wire at the FBI’s direction to catch these criminals.”

Tonight on Fox News, Rep. Matt Gaetz explained that the allegations against him are “verifiably false,” that he never had a relationship with a 17-year-old girl, and that his travel records will bear out the story to be a lie.

Rep. Gaetz revealed the name of the former DOJ official who he accused of extorting, or “bleeding’ his family out of money.” He explained that he and his family received a text message demanding $25 million to make “horrible sex trafficking allegations against me” to “go away.” Gaetz explained that after he and his family contacted the FBI, his father was asked to wear a wire to prove that they were being bribed by a former DOJ official.

Gaetz then dropped a bombshell when he named David McGee, a top former DOJ official in the northern district of Florida. David McGee is currently employed at the Beggs and Lane Law Firm.

David McGee, the former DOJ official Rep. Gaetz accuses of attempting to extort money from a United States Congressman his family, is featured on the Beggs & Lane law firm’s website:

Watch the incredible interview here:

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