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.

Rep. Gaetz came out swinging with a bold statement accusing a former DOJ official of extortion: “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.”

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.

Democrats and RINOs in Congress, as well as the dishonest media, jumped on Gaetz, hoping their joint efforts would destroy one of President Trump’s most loyal supporters.

Project Veritas, who continues to reveal the truth through their incredible investigative work, has now exposed CNN in a plot to destroy Gaetz with a campaign of propaganda.

Fox News reports – A CNN staffer has admitted to an undercover journalist that his network has been deploying “propaganda” in an effort to damage Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla.

In another damning clip released by the right-wing guerilla news outlet Project Veritas, technical director Charles Chester was asked if CNN uses “propaganda” on-air.

“I don’t know. I- yeah,” Chester responded after initially struggled to answer the question.

When he was asked to explain how CNN uses “propaganda,” Chester cited the scandals plaguing the GOP congressman, which had surfaced just days prior.

“If the agenda, say, is to get, like, Matt Gaetz right now, he’s like this Republican,” Chester began. “He’s a problem for the Democratic Party because he’s so conservative, right? And he can cause a lot of hiccups in passing of laws and whatnot. So, it would be great for the Democratic Party to get him out. So we’re going to keep running those stories to keep hurting him and make it so that it can’t be buried and, like, just settled outside of court. And just like, you know, if we keep pushing that, it’s helping us.”

“That’s propaganda because it’s helping us in some way,” Chester summarized.

Watch Matt Gaetz’s reaction to the new bombshell video from Project Veritas: