The House Ethics Committee has subpoenaed Rep. Matt Gaetz’s ex-girlfriend as part of its reopened investigation into the Florida Republican.
The committee has asked for the unnamed woman to appear via a Zoom call on Feb. 29, the woman’s lawyer told ABC News and CNN.
“I can confirm I received a subpoena on behalf of my client,” her lawyer, Tim Jansen, told ABC News. “We will certainly appear before the committee as required. However, we have informed the Staff that my client will be invoking her Fifth Amendment right before the Committee.”
The federal investigation into Gaetz stemmed from a criminal indictment of his formerly close associate, Seminole County tax collector Joel Greenberg
The woman testified before a grand jury in 2022 as part of a separate Justice Department probe investigating allegations that Gaetz had sex with a 17-year-old minor for money.
The federal investigation into Gaetz stemmed from a criminal indictment of his formerly close associate, Seminole County tax collector Joel Greenberg, on a slew of charges that included the sex trafficking of a child. Greenberg pleaded guilty in 2021 and agreed to cooperate with federal investigators. The Justice Department ultimately closed its probe into Gaetz last year without charging him.
But the House Ethics Committee’s investigation, which first began in 2021, continues. Although it was paused during the Justice Department’s investigation, The New York Times reported that the committee picked it back up after federal investigators declined to charge Gaetz.
Gaetz has repeatedly denied wrongdoing. He has decried the investigations as a “witch hunt,” and reportedly blamed former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in private for the House committee resuming its probe. McCarthy has also claimed that Gaetz’s successful campaign to oust him as speaker — which plunged the chamber into chaos and the House GOP into disarray — was “personal.”