Gaetz Whistles Pasts Graveyard As Wingman Joel Greenberg Sings In Court

Florida is a magical place!

(Photo by Saul Loeb-Pool/Getty Images)

This morning Rep. Matt Gaetz’s former wingman cum procurer Joel Greenberg pleaded guilty to one count each of sex trafficking a minor, producing a fake ID, identity theft, stalking, wire fraud, and defrauding the federal government’s covid relief program.

Greenberg agreed to provide substantial assistance to the feds and he has every incentive to cooperate fully. The first two charges alone have mandatory minimums totaling twelve years.

This is not good news for his buddy Matt Gaetz, who spent last weekend preaching the MAGA gospel in Ohio and plans to appear next weekend in Arizona with congressional stalker Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene.

Gaetz’s flacks have made much of the fact that their client wasn’t named in Greenberg’s indictment or plea deal. And indeed it may be a good PR strategy to pretend that unindicted fellow travelers would be named in court documents, but as a legal strategy, it’s probably not going to cut it. Indeed, the extraordinarily detailed plea agreement specifies that Greenberg “introduced the Minor to other adult men, who engaged in commercial sex acts with the Minor in the Middle District of Florida.”

This tracks with Greenberg’s written confession to Roger Stone that he witnessed Gaetz having sex with the underaged girl at the center of the sex trafficking allegation.

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The Daily Beast, which broke numerous Gaetzgate stories, got their hands on a treasure trove of Venmo transactions, including one series where the congressman Vemo-ed cash to Greenberg with the memo “Hit Up [the Minor],” who by then had turned 18, after which Greenberg forwarded the money to three young women, including the girl in reference.

And while Gaetz has been at pains to discredit Greenberg by noting that his former friend is pleading guilty to stalking a political rival by falsely accusing him of sex with an underage girl, the government appears to have significant leverage over potential witnesses who might corroborate the allegations.

Politico reports that the Minor is negotiating with prosecutors to testify in exchange for immunity. And Gaetz’s former girlfriend, a college student who dated the then 37-year-old congressman in 2018, is reported to be in fear of an obstruction charge for her attempt to get the Minor to keep her mouth shut.

The woman grew increasingly concerned with the investigation because she may face obstruction charges after calling the alleged 17-year-old victim and her roommate, who were friends of hers from Central Florida, multiple sources said. The woman suspected that the 17-year-old and her roommate recorded her call perhaps because they were cooperating with the federal government, her friends said. That conversation could have exposed her to an obstruction of justice charge because she was opposed to talking to the feds, the friends said.

“She’s worried about being hit with an obstruction charge, and she wants an immunity deal,” one of the friends said.

And every day brings new, salacious revelations. In the latest Daily Beast story, multiple witnesses confirm seeing Gaetz using drugs with Megan Zalonka, a “paid escort and amateur Instagram model” during a party in a campaign-funded hotel room. Zalonka is alleged to have received a $3,500 no-show contract with Seminole County when Greenberg was county tax collector, in addition to thousands more in payments directly from Greenberg himself.

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In short, on top of the congressman’s voluminous digital trail — who even knew there was a “love hotel” emoji? — there is no shortage of potential witnesses with every incentive to corroborate Greenberg’s allegations to get out of their own fraud, narcotic, and prostitution charges.

So get your tickets now to see Matt Gaetz hype Arizona’s disastrous recount “audit.”

Who knows how much longer Gaetz will be able to travel without permission from pretrial services.

Feds tighten grip in Gaetz probe [Politico]
Rep. Matt Gaetz Snorted Cocaine With Escort Who Had ‘No Show’ Gov’t Job [Daily Beast]


Elizabeth Dye lives in Baltimore where she writes about law and politics.