A Florida politician who is a central figure in the Justice Department's investigation into Rep. Matt Gaetz pleaded guilty Monday to six federal charges and will cooperate with prosecutors (May 17)
Joel Greenberg, who U.S. Representative Matt Gaetz had referred to as his wingman, appeared in federal court wearing a dark blue prison jumpsuit on Monday to plead guilty to six federal charges, including sex-trafficking of a minor.The former Florida tax collector, who is central to the investigation into whether Gaetz trafficked a 17-year-old for sex, also agreed to cooperate with prosecutors, which could spell trouble for the Republican congressman and one of former President Donald Trump's staunchest defenders.Outside the courthouse in Orlando, Florida, Greenberg's lawyer, Fritz Scheller, said his client would honor his plea agreement if prosecutors sought information from him about Gaetz. SCHELLER: "Does my client have information that could hurt an elected official? I guess this is just, you know, must-see television. You'll just have to wait and see."A plane pulling a banner that read "Tick Tock Matt Gaetz" circled above the federal courthouse during Monday's plea hearing.BRIAN BEUTE: "I sustained an eight-month-long string of attacks on my character."Earlier, Brian Beute, who ran against Greenberg for Seminole County Tax Collector and helped initiate the investigation, held a press conference as Greenberg pleaded guilty to having letters sent to the school where Beute worked that falsely accused him of sexual misconduct with a student.Beute's attorney, David Bear, also spoke to the media.BEAR: "I am completely confident Joel is providing substantial assistance for very important players throughout the community who are committing crimes and think they can get away with it because they are powerful and wealthy and hopefully they won’t anymore."Investigators are seeking to determine whether Gaetz had sex with the same 17-year-old Greenberg was accused of trafficking, according to a law enforcement source who spoke with Reuters. Gaetz has not been charged with any crimes and has repeatedly denied wrongdoing.
Photo Illustration by The Daily Beast / Photos by Getty/APAs Rep. Matt Gaetz’s one-time “wingman” Joel Greenberg pleaded guilty to six federal charges on Monday, a plane flew above the nearby federal courthouse in Orlando with this banner attached to the tail: “Tick Tock Matt Gaetz.”Gaetz, who is reportedly under investigation for the same allegation at the center of Greenberg’s charges—sex trafficking a 17-year-old girl—wasn’t mentioned by name in the 86-page plea agreement for Greenberg. But even without Gaetz’s name, the court documents spell potential doom for the Florida congressman. A number of problematic details in Greenberg’s plea agreement could point to Gaetz—particularly if you know where to look.Chief among the issues for Gaetz is the prospect that the once 17-year-old girl in question may be cooperating with investigators.According to the plea filing, after Greenberg learned that investigators were probing his “commercial sex acts” with the minor, he reached out to the girl to coordinate a lie about why he had looked her up in the Florida DMV database.“Greenberg contacted the Minor, directly and through one of the Minor’s friends, for the purpose of asking the minor to lie and say that the reason why Greenberg looked the Minor up in the [DMV] system was because the Minor had asked him to do that, which, as Greenberg knew, was not true,” the court document says. “Greenberg also asked the Minor for help in making sure that their stories would line up, because he knew that his commercial sex acts with her were illegal.”Not only does this indicate that the former teen is cooperating with investigators, it also suggests that one of her friends—potentially another girl who helped introduce the then-minor to Greenberg and his friends—could be cooperating as well.The plea agreement also notes that the first time Greenberg met up with the then-minor—on his boat in Spring 2017—the two did not have sex. It doesn’t seem likely that prosecutors would take Greenberg at his word alone on that claim, further raising the prospect that this woman is working with investigators.If that’s true, and Greenberg’s claims are accurate, then Gaetz could be ruined.The most direct and damning of Greenberg’s allegations against his former friend came in a confession letter obtained by The Daily Beast, in which Greenberg claims he and Gaetz both paid to have sex with this teen while she was underage. Greenberg adds that he saw the acts occur “first hand” and that he paid women on behalf of Gaetz.A number of key claims in that letter seemed to align with details in the plea agreement. For one, in the letter that Greenberg wrote, citing an “anonymous tip,” the former tax collector specifies the date he learned the teen was underage: Sept. 4, 2017.“Immediately I called the congressman and warned him to stay clear of this person and informed him she was underage,” Greenberg wrote. “He was equally shocked and disturbed by this revelation.”In the plea agreement, that date appears to be confirmed.“On or about September 4, 2017 at 1:29 p.m., Greenberg ran a search for the Minor, because he had reason to believe that the Minor was under the age of 18,” the court document says.Greenberg’s timeline in the confession letter—which is currently in the hands of federal investigators—seems to be confirmed by internal computer records logging his search of the minor. If Gaetz’s legal strategy tracks with his PR strategy of discrediting Greenberg, it’ll be much tougher to dismiss what Greenberg says when it’s backed up by data points like the exact time and date Greenberg learned the girl was underrage, his phone logs, and a confession letter that claims Greenberg learned of the teen’s age and then immediately called Gaetz.If Greenberg truly did learn of the girl’s age on that date, and then immediately called Gaetz, that conversation should show up in Greenberg’s call logs—and would be very hard for Gaetz’s legal team to explain away.One thing that’s also very clear from the plea agreement is that investigators have Greenberg’s call logs. They note exact dates on which Greenberg called or texted the then-17-year-old—a total of at least 20 times between April 24 and July 30, 2017, frequently to arrange commercial sex acts.Gaetz’s own phone was reportedly seized last December, as was the phone belonging to his ex-girlfriend, another alleged participant in Greenberg’s ring who is considering striking a immunity deal of her own, according to Politico.While the plea agreement doesn’t name the congressman—or anyone else—it does say a number of people paid for sex with the then-17-year-old. If that’s accurate, others in the alleged sex ring may have their own stories to share.Judging by the plea agreement, Greenberg is not the investigation’s ultimate target. The very nature of the plea bargain indicates that federal investigators have set their sights elsewhere, and Greenberg and other people involved may be valuable witnesses.Although Greenberg pleaded guilty to six charges with a mandatory minimum sentence of 12 years, he was facing a 33-count indictment and potentially decades in jail. Greenberg, of course, isn’t an entirely trustworthy source, which Gaetz has been quick to point out in his defense.But given that Greenberg still reached a favorable deal—convincing prosecutors to toss 27 of 33 charges in exchange for his cooperation—it’s likely investigators have been able to independently corroborate valuable information.The plea agreement also notes that “others” and “other men” also had sex with the 17-year-old girl. All of those people could be facing charges, but they also could be potential witnesses against Gaetz, meaning as problematic of a witness as Greenberg may be, he may not be the only witness.Greenberg said in his confession letter that he wasn’t alone in having sex with the 17-year-old.“On more than one occasion this underage individual was involved in sexual activity with several of the other females at the house, myself and also the congressman from Florida’s panhandle,” Greenberg wrote.The disgraced tax official also wrote in his confession that the victim’s age “alarmed” him in part because many of his friends were legally exposed.“I was aware that this could cause problems for a lot of people,” he said.According to the plea filing, Greenberg also frequently “attempted to disguise” payments to women “as ‘schoolrelated’ expenses or other living expenses.” The court document lists three examples of euphemistic memo items—“school,” “ice cream,” and “food”—further specifying the latter as one of Greenberg’s payments to the minor. That payment’s memo item, date, and amount match The Daily Beast’s previous report of the transaction.But the plea agreement contradicts the confession on one key point: Greenberg is no longer denying he broke the law. In the confession letter, the former county official wrote that “there was absolutely no way a reasonable person could know this individual was not yet 18,” adding that Gaetz had been “equally shocked and disturbed” to learn the girl’s true age.In his plea, however, Greenberg admits he had “reasonable opportunity to observe” that she was underage when he had sex with her at least seven times. The plea cites months of personal interaction between Greenberg and the girl—texts, phone calls, physical encounters, and Greenberg watching her have sex with others.At a press conference after the plea hearing on Monday, Greenberg’s defense lawyer, Fritz Scheller, was asked what value Greenberg could deliver for prosecutors. In response, Scheller directed reporters back to the plea agreement.“I encourage you all to just read the plea agreement,” Scheller said. “If you read the plea agreement, that will show you what the path is.”Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
Former President Donald Trump and Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives said on Monday they are near an agreement to resolve disputes concerning congressional subpoenas of his financial records from Deutsche Bank AG. In a filing in federal court in Manhattan, lawyers for Trump and the Democrats said they believed they were "close to an agreement" in talks concerning the scope of the subpoenas and a process for resolving privacy concerns.
The battle for the Republican Party's future is ongoing, and Georgia's Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan (R) aims to be a part of it, albeit in a different role. Duncan, who clashed with former President Donald Trump over the latter's false claims of widespread voter fraud in Georgia's presidential election, announced Monday that he won't seek re-election next year and will instead focus his energy on building a national organization he is calling "GOP 2.0." "The national events of the last six months have deeply affected my family in ways I would have never imagined when I first asked for their support to run for lieutenant governor in 2017," Duncan said in a statement. Duncan's explanation of the GOP 2.0 suggests he's not looking to start a new, breakaway party. His goal, he said, is rather to heal and rebuild the current Republican Party by "reminding Americans [of] the value of conservative policies through genuine empathy and a respectful tone." CNN's Jake Tapper praised Duncan as one of the GOP's "stalwarts standing for facts and truth against the maelstrom of election lies." Statement from Lt. Governor Geoff Duncan on decision to not seek re-election in 2022. #gapol pic.twitter.com/VRkqd7P0P2 — Geoff Duncan (@GeoffDuncanGA) May 17, 2021 More stories from theweek.comThe GOP's blatant disregard for democracy7 scathingly funny cartoons about Liz Cheney's ousterCuomo's pandemic book deal was reportedly worth over $5 million
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Two U.S. senators, a Republican and a Democrat, asked Congress on Monday to reauthorize the Voting Rights Act, as Republican-controlled state legislatures pass measures imposing new curbs on voting. Democrat Joe Manchin and Republican Lisa Murkowski noted in a letter that the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which outlawed discriminatory voting practices, was last reauthorized in 2006 with a bipartisan Senate vote of 98-0. The U.S. Supreme Court struck down a key portion of the Voting Rights Act in 2013, saying that Section 4, the formula used to determine which states and localities were subject to additional federal scrutiny, was outdated.
Georgia's lieutenant governor, one of the most prominent Republicans to openly contradict false claims about fraud in the November presidential election, confirmed Monday as expected that he won't seek reelection in 2022. Republican Geoff Duncan was among the most high-profile Republicans to openly oppose Trump’s claims, angering many in his own party. In Georgia, many other Republican officials have doubled down on unproven claims that Trump was cheated out of Georgia's 16 electoral votes in November.
Home is where the heart is — or, the nearest the country club into which you’ll be admitted entry. Such is the case for Eric and Lara Trump, who just purchased a $3.2 million mansion in Jupiter, Florida, five miles from sibling Donald Trump Jr. and his girlfriend Kimberly Guilfoyle in Admiral’s Cove — and, […]
Rep. Liz Cheney suggested that Kevin McCarthy, the House GOP leader, knew more about the response to the Capitol riot than he'd let on.
The costs to taxpayers from a racial profiling lawsuit stemming from former Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s immigration patrols in metro Phoenix a decade ago are expected to reach $202 million by summer 2022. Officials approved a tentative county budget Monday that provides $31 million for the cost of complying with court orders in the fiscal year that begins on July 1. The growth in spending “is enough to make any of us cry as we’re trying to be fiscal stewards of the county taxpayer money,” Supervisor Clint Hickman said.
More than four months out from Jan. 6, hostility surrounding the riot is deeply felt on Capitol Hill.
May.17 -- Republican Senator Pat Toomey says he doubts that former President Donald Trump will remain the GOP’s “de facto” leader by the next presidential election. He also talks about how Republicans are working with the White House on an infrastructure plan. He speaks to Bloomberg's David Westin.
A Kansas House member was charged Monday with three counts of misdemeanor battery, accused of having made “rude, insulting or angry” contact with two teenage students in a classroom while working as a substitute teacher. The charges against Republican state Rep. Mark Samsel arose from a student reporting an April 28 incident involving Samsel in what videos showed to be a noisy classroom in his hometown of Wellsville, a town of about 1,700 people roughly 55 miles (89 kilometers) southwest of Kansas City. The brief videos, provided by a parent who said they were shot by students, also showed Samsel talking about suicide, God and sex.
Eric Nelson wrote in a March affidavit that while he received emails from a New York Times reporter, he didn't dish about the Chauvin case.
The pertinent provision of the constitution says, “neither house shall, without the concurrence of the other, adjourn for more than three days,” writes Jim Jones.
The Daily Beast reported that witnesses observed Rep. Matt Gaetz after a 2019 GOP fundraiser taking part in a cocaine-fueled after party with a paid escort. Joel Greenberg, who has been labeled as Gaetz’s wingman, identified the escort as one of the more than 15 women Gaetz paid to solicit sex, according to a source familiar with the current investigation. Megan Zalonka attended an after party in Gaetz’s hotel room in October 2019 after he attended the “Trump Defender Gala” fundraiser at the Westgate Lake Resort in Orlando.
Edward Caniglia agreed to go to the hospital for a psychiatric evaluation, but after he left, police entered the home and took his two handguns.
Two-thirds of GOP voters don't believe President Biden won the 2020 election fair and square, suggesting former President Donald Trump's false claims of widespread voter fraud still have momentum, a CBS News/YouGov poll released Sunday found. At the same time, however, most of those voters think Republican lawmakers should be focusing their energy on proposing "important legislation." In fact, supporting election fraud claims was found to be the least important issue in the survey, trailing economic policy and "culture and values," as well. Republican rank and file still deny the legitimacy of the election, but it's still far more important to them now for their leaders to propose legislation on key issues and to match their voters on policy and on values, than it is to see them claim election fraud. pic.twitter.com/gfyWu4NrRr — Ed O'Keefe (@edokeefe) May 16, 2021 The sentiment was also reflected in questions about Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.). An overwhelming majority of respondents backed her ouster, but the most popular reason given was that Cheney wasn't on message with the rest of the party, rather than her thoughts on the 2020 election. NEW FROM @CBSNewsPoll: A majority of Republicans agree with @HouseGOP’s removing @RepLizCheney from conference leadership. Why do they feel this way? They believe she’s not on message; wrong about the 2020 election; didn’t support Trump. 1/3 say disloyalty should be punished. pic.twitter.com/yfnHJWUKw2 — Ed O'Keefe (@edokeefe) May 16, 2021 Finally, there are more Republican voters who think the party should be expanding the base by emphasizing "policies and ideas" than there are those who believe lawmakers should prioritize "pushing for changes to state voting rules." The CBS News/YouGov poll was conducted among 951 Republicans in the United States between May 12-14. The margin of error is 3.5 percentage points. Read the full results here. More stories from theweek.comThe GOP's blatant disregard for democracy7 scathingly funny cartoons about Liz Cheney's ousterCuomo's pandemic book deal was reportedly worth over $5 million
Although golf carts are designed for courses and trails, with top speeds typically in the range of 10 to 20 mph, there are people who nevertheless drive them on busy public roads—spawning a federal case in Florida. A recent ruling by a judge in Miami centers on whether insurance companies’ automobile policies extend to carts […]
More than six months after the 2020 election, several members of former President Donald Trump's inner circle are pouring millions into a renewed push to challenge the election's outcome -- an effort that has gained new life in Arizona as it captivates the former president and many of his followers. In the immediate aftermath of the 2020 election, a sprawling collection of Trump loyalists, fueled by a host of baseless conspiracies involving disproven claims of widespread voter fraud, failed over and over again to overturn the election results in the courts.
As part of his deal with federal prosecutors, Joel Greenberg has also agreed to “cooperate fully" with authorities.
