by Frank Butler, Orlando Advocate
According to the Washington Post, Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz tried to get a “presumptive pardon” from former President Donald Trump before Trump left office. Gaetz wanted get out from under a sex trafficking probe that is targeting him, and according to the Post told Johnny McEntee, a former White House Aide, that while he hadn’t done anything wrong, “if the president could give him a pardon, that would be great.”
Gaetz also asked White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows for a pardon, the Post said.
McEntee made the revelations during his testimony before the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot.
Gaetz denied that he sought a pardon from Trump and the former president confirmed his denial. Witnesses close to Trump, however, also testified before the committee that Gaetz did indeed seek a pardon, but never received one.
At issue in the sex trafficking investigation into Gaetz is his alleged sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl auhorities say he paid to travel out of the country with him. This relationship came to light during the case of ousted Seminole County Tax Collector Joel Greenberg, a friend of Gaetz who pled guilty last year to sex trafficking the same teenaged girl, and is a key witness in the case against Gaetz.
Read the full story at the Washington Post.
