close
close

Apre-salomemanzo

Breaking: Beyond Headlines!

Hacker steals file containing testimony from Matt Gaetz accusers: report
aecifo

Hacker steals file containing testimony from Matt Gaetz accusers: report

An unknown hacker obtained a copy of the testimony of a woman who was 17 when she allegedly had sex with Matt Gaetz in 2017, according to a shocking new report from New York Times. The hacker obtained the computer file through a secure link shared among attorneys who represent women who allege they had sex with Gaetz and sold him illegal drugs, accusations the former Florida congressman denies.

The filing, which does not yet appear to have been publicly disclosed, includes 24 exhibits, with the most potentially damaging exhibit being testimony from a woman who says she was 17 when Gaetz had sex with her, according to the Times. The filing also includes corroborating testimony from a woman who said she personally witnessed the sexual encounter, an allegation that first became public this weekend when the story was reported by ABC News.

Whoever accessed the file used the name Altam Beezley at 1:23 p.m. ET Monday, according to the Times. One of the attorneys connected to the case reportedly attempted to send an email to Beezley, but received a return email informing the sender that the email address did not exist.

Gaetz has been making headlines non-stop since he was nominated by President-elect Donald Trump to serve as U.S. attorney general, a highly controversial choice given the Justice Department’s investigations into the former member of the Congress. Not to mention the fact that even his own colleagues didn’t seem to know that Gaetz was a lawyer. Gaetz resigned from his congressional post immediately after Trump’s nomination was announced, a very strange move for someone who had just been re-elected just a few weeks ago.

Gaetz was the subject of an investigation by the House Ethics Committee into the incident of alleged sexual misconduct and drug use, but it is unclear whether the final report will ever be released. House Speaker Mike Johnson, another Republican and Trump ally, said he would “strongly request” that the report not be released. Gaetz was also under investigation by the Justice Department for years over allegations of sex trafficking and his alleged sexual relations with a minor, but no charges were filed in that case.

Oddly, the documents that were hacked Monday do not appear to come from the House Ethics Committee investigation, but rather evidence from a civil lawsuit filed by Gaetz’s friend Christopher Dorworth, according to the Times . Dorworth claims he was defamed by Joel Greenberg, another friend of Gaetz’s who is currently serving an 11-year prison sentence for sex trafficking, the woman who says she was 17 when Gaetz allegedly had sex with her.

The 24 hacked exhibits were allegedly prepared by the unnamed woman and her lawyer and included testimony from Dorworth, Dorworth’s wife, and Michael Fischer, Gaetz’s former campaign treasurer who allegedly attended one of the sex parties, according to the Times. The file even contains entry logs that show who was arriving at the party in question, which took place in July 2017, according to the newspaper.

Even Fox News host Trey Gowdy warned against confirming Gaetz on Tuesday morninggiven the current controversy and his promise to punish Trump’s political enemies.

“Don’t use justice as a weapon. The message for Republicans is don’t do it to the other side either, with this absurd AG pick you just made,” Gowdy said.

Whatever is in those files that were hacked is “considered to be more damaging to Mr. Gaetz than to his accusers,” according to the Times. So the world will just have to wait and see if this gets leaked. Because it’s hard to believe that whoever is behind the computer intrusion intends to keep this information forever.