Luke Ball, communications director for the office of Florida Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz, who is under investigation for alleged sex trafficking, something he attributes to an attempted blackmail, has left his post, according to Florida media.
The Orlando Sentinel newspaper published a statement in which Gaetz and Ball’s office simply stated that they considered that “it is best for each of them to go their own way.”
The announcement is so far the latest chapter in the scandal surrounding Gaetz, a follower of former President Donald Trump, after The New York Times reported that he is being investigated by the FBI to determine whether he engaged in sex trafficking for allegedly having paid trips to a 17-year-old girl, with whom he allegedly had relationships in 2019.
The president of the House of Representatives, Democrat Nancy Pelosi, said on Thursday that if it is shown that this was the case, at least Gaetz should resign from the Judicial Committee and that in any case the Ethics Committee should take action on the matter.
This Thursday, in addition, CNN citing “multiple sources” said that Gaetz, 38, used to boast of his female conquests and show photos of naked women to other members of Congress.
Gatez, who represents a Northwest Florida district in Congress, claims that all the allegations against him are “false,” but instead his family has faced actual “extortion,” and the Justice Department has the recordings. that prove it.
“Please spread the tapes,” he wrote in his last message posted on Twitter about the investigation that was first reported this week by The New York Times.
According to CNN, the young Republican, a regular participant in programs on the Fox network, was noted among members of the House of Representatives for his stories of sexual adventures.
Unidentified sources who spoke to CNN say he showed them photos of naked women and one of those informants recalled one with a hula hoop on her waist.
The Justice Department investigation into Gaetz has to do with an alleged relationship between the congressman and a 17-year-old girl who in 2019 he would have paid to travel with him between states, which could be a violation of anti-traffic sexual laws, as published by the New York newspaper on March 30.
Gaetz, who defines himself as a “fiancé” on his Twitter profile, said in a statement sent to the New York Times that he suspects someone is trying to get “another category” from his “generosity” to his ex-girlfriends.
In his first reaction to the disclosure of the investigation into him, the congressman said last Tuesday that in recent weeks he and his family had been victims of a criminal organization that tried to charge them $ 25 million for not “staining their name.” with “false accusations.”
Gaetz said that nothing published about him is true and that he and his family are collaborating with authorities.
He also pointed out that former prosecutor David McGee, who today works as a lawyer in a Pensacola (Florida) office, is involved in the extortion.
The law firm Biggs & Lane and McGee himself have called Gaetz’s claims “false and defamatory.”