WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Republican Representative Matt Gaetz’s former girlfriend testified before a federal grand jury on Wednesday amid an ongoing probe into whether the lawmaker trafficked a minor for sex, NBC News reported.
NBC said the girlfriend, whose name was withheld, and her lawyer were spotted entering a federal courthouse in Orlando, Florida, but that the lawyer, Tim Jansen, declined to comment.
Representatives for the Department of Justice could not be immediately reached for comment on the report.
Gaetz has not been charged with any crimes and has repeatedly denied wrongdoing.
“We have seen no credible basis for a charge against Congressman Gaetz. We remain steadfast in our commitment to challenge any allegations with the facts and law,” one of his lawyers, Isabelle Kirshner, told Reuters in a statement.
Wednesday’s move could represent a significant development in the more than year-long sex crimes investigation involving the Florida congressman that has roiled state politics.
Last year, a former Florida official central to the U.S. probe agreed to cooperate with prosecutors and pleaded guilty to six charges, including sex-trafficking of a minor. A lawyer for Joel Greenberg, a former tax collector in Florida’s Seminole County, at the time suggested his client would implicate Gaetz.
Gaetz, currently serving his third term in the U.S. House of Representatives, is one of Donald Trump’s staunchest defenders in Congress, with the former president praising him at a Florida rally as a warrior fighting on his behalf.
(Reporting by Jan Wolfe and Susan Heavey; Editing by Nick Zieminski)
