Originally Authored at TheFederalist.com
The last eight years at the Department of Justice have been a disaster for the rule of law. The sprawling intelligence and law enforcement agency ran the Russia collusion hoax, hamstringing President Donald Trump during his entire first term in office.
It interfered in the 2020 election by falsely telling social media companies that a laptop with incriminating information about the Biden family business was Russian disinformation, and telling them to censor speech and debate about the topic. Under President Joe Biden, the department ran two norm-obliterating politicized prosecutions against Trump in an effort to silence, bankrupt, imprison, and defeat him.
Instead of rooting out the corruption at the department, most of permanent D.C. did absolutely nothing in response. Yet somehow the chattering class was shocked when Trump nominated loyal foot soldier Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fl., to be attorney general in Trump’s second term and to fix DOJ.
Gaetz had proven to be one of the most effective advocates against corruption at DOJ and was unwilling to back down in the face of overwhelming public pressure. However, Gaetz does not fit the education or experience profile of many previous attorneys general and has limited experience practicing law.
Many Americans are sick and tired of elected officials and media pundits doing nothing as DOJ attempted to destroy the country with its abuse of the rule of law. Among the many powerful figures in Washington, D.C. opposed to the Gaetz nomination are some who are attempting to thwart it by releasing a report from the House Ethics Committee that will attempt to tie Gaetz to salacious allegations involving child sex trafficking.
The report comes years after DOJ dropped its investigation into the same claims on the grounds that the two central witnesses had serious credibility issues. Yet these are the same two central witnesses the House Ethics Committee has relied on for its critical report of Gaetz—the same report it is leaking to compliant reporters as part of a coordinated effort to thwart his nomination as President-elect Donald Trump’s next attorney general.
A John With a History of False Sex Smears
The two witnesses have massive credibility problems. The claims arose from Joel Greenberg, “one of the most corrupt Florida politicians of all time,” according to Florida reporter Marc Caputo, who is now with the anti-Trump media outlet The Bulwark.
Among many things the former Seminole County tax collector admitted to as part of a wide-ranging case for which he is currently serving 11 years in prison was falsely accusing local political opponent Brian Beute of having sex with a minor, similar to the outlandish claim he made against Gaetz. Greenberg also reportedly later attempted to frame his own attorney with pornographic images of children. One New York Times writeup of Greenberg was headlined, “Like the Tiger King Got Elected Tax Collector.“
According to the Washington Post, Greenberg admitted to “fabricating allegations against a schoolteacher who was running against him to be a tax collector. Greenberg had sent letters to the school falsely claiming the teacher had an inappropriate sexual relationship with a student — a similar allegation to the Gaetz case.” U.S. District Judge Gregory Presnell, appointed by President Bill Clinton, said Greenberg’s actions against that innocent victim were “downright evil.”
Too Ridiculous For Even The DOJ
The politicized employees at DOJ have shown themselves willing to explore novel legal theories and bend federal rules to the breaking point in pursuit of their most reviled political opponents, most notably former and future President Trump. Gaetz has a reputation as one of the most tenacious cross-examiners of DOJ officials from his perch on the House Judiciary Committee.
Yet even the DOJ was unwilling to exploit Greenberg’s unsubstantiated claims — apart from leaking them to the press to hurt Gaetz’s reputation. They announced their closure of the investigation in 2022.
The House Ethics Committee, however, decided to pick up the dropped and deflated ball and run with it a full year after DOJ dropped the investigation. The fact that the disgraced Greenberg was cooperating with the House Ethics Committee was shared for publication with The New York Times and other media outlets.
The news media “should not be laundering smears from people in prison,” a Gaetz spokesman said at the time. Gaetz speculated that the House ethics investigation was punishment for his leading role in the controversial defenestration of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, a move that angered many of his Republican colleagues.
The colorful representative and Trump ally has also won few friends on the Hill by pointing out his colleagues’ suspicious stock trades. Prior to marrying Ginger Luckey in 2021 and settling down, he had a reputation in D.C. for being a partier and dating many women.
2023 Lawsuit Sheds Light On Accusers
A little-noticed lawsuit from 2023 gives some insight into Greenberg and two women involved in the scheme against Gaetz. Greenberg alleges one of these women had sex with Gaetz when she was a minor. The other woman is her longtime roommate and friend, two years older, who has reportedly corroborated her friend’s claims.
The crime spree Greenberg was convicted of included charges related to his ongoing sexual relationship with the 17-year-old. He met her on a site for older men with money and younger women needing money who are prepared to have sex with older men. The practice matches “sugar daddies” with “sugar babies” and is considered a form of prostitution. The woman lied about her age when she registered on the site, and the married Greenberg maintains he was not aware she was a minor when he began having sex with her.
The lawsuit shows that Greenberg “became insistent” that Gaetz help him obtain a pardon for his various crimes. When he was repeatedly told that wouldn’t happen, Greenberg reportedly said he would seek vengeance on those who refused to help him during his time of need.
It was at this point that Greenberg began claiming without evidence that Gaetz and a variety of other Republicans and local businessmen were involved in his criminal actions, the lawsuit says. Greenberg was paying the legal bills of Gaetz’s accuser. He allegedly lied about Gaetz to “reduce his own prison sentence,” according to the lawsuit.
The latter claim was supported by a September letter from Gaetz to the House Ethics Committee. Gaetz revealed a letter from a jailhouse informant who shared a holding cell with Greenberg when Greenberg admitted “making stuff up about” Gaetz as part of a plan to lighten what could have been as much as a 27-year sentence in federal prison. He was eventually sentenced to 11 years for his role in sex trafficking, identity theft, public corruption involving taxpayer money and contracts, stalking, and securing fraudulent federal business loans.
Two former federal agents interviewed the inmate, who told them Greenberg said the woman Greenberg was convicted of having sex with as a minor “would be willing to adopt Greenberg’s lie in hopes of a future financial benefit.”
The woman is referenced in news reports and legal documents as “A.B.” A 2023 lawsuit from Chris Dorworth, a former Florida state representative and friend of Gaetz, reveals that Greenberg said A.B. performed deviant acts on the internet for money and “would do whatever he said because he was paying her legal bills.” He even sent a text message to Dorworth confessing he was paying for her legal bills.
“I’m having to pay for [A.B.] to retain lawyer,” Greenberg wrote in a text to Dorworth. “They contacted her and are wanting her to talk. She doesn’t want to talk to them. Likely Venmo was the link. I need help with this.”
The lawsuit shows that various people Greenberg spoke to about his problems felt he was trying to ensnare them as having been complicit in his crimes, frequently to their confusion. After speaking with Greenberg’s lawyer, Dorworth texted Greenberg, “I have nothing to do with any of this and think it is incredibly uncool you are trying to lawyer me up to be part of it, Joel. Not. F–king. Cool.”
The younger woman has gone on to be an “active participant” on OnlyFans and has appeared in pornographic videos under a stage name, according to the lawsuit. News reports claim she told the House Ethics Committee the same information she told the DOJ before it closed the investigation on the grounds she and Greenberg had credibility problems. Judge Presnell referred to the woman as “essentially a prostitute.”
The DOJ decided that the people making the accusations against Gaetz had such massive credibility problems that they could in no way charge him with any crimes. All the House Ethics Committee has done is revive those same accusations from the same unreliable witnesses.
As they did with the salacious accusations contained in the Democrat-funded Russia collusion dossier and the Washington Post’s unsubstantiated report against then-federal judge Brett Kavanaugh, the people who run Washington appear not to be concerned about the validity of the accusations so much as the ability to use them to stop a political opponent.