Trump's ally under investigation for sexual relationship with underage girls
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He has also been accused of having an inappropriate sexual relationship with a 17-year-old who was allegedly paid to travel with him
A close ally of former US president, Donald Trump, has denied accusations against him stating he had relationships with underage girls.
Matt Gaetz, a Republican in Congress, said his lawyers have been informed that he is the subject of an investigation for "sexual conduct with women". However, he has also claimed that he is not the target of this ongoing investigation.
He has been accused of having sexual relationships with underage girls. Gaetz, however, has denied these accusations, describing them to be "as searing as they are false".
Gaetz opened up about this a little after the New York Times reported that the Trump ally was under investigation by the justice department to find out if he violated federal sex trafficking laws.
He has also been accused of having an inappropriate sexual relationship with a 17-year-old who was allegedly paid to travel with him.
Calling it a planned criminal extortion plan, he said in a statement, "Over the past several weeks my family and I have been victims of an organised criminal extortion involving a former DoJ [Department of Justice] official, seeking $25m while threatening to smear my name."
He has also claimed that his father has been wearing a recording device on the FBI's order "to catch these criminals". He has urged the justice department to release those recordings.
"No part of the allegations against me are true, and the people pushing these lies are targets of the ongoing extortion investigation," he said.
After he opened up about the investigation, he accused the US Department of Justice of purposely trying to make his conduct look criminal.
"I believe that there are people at the Department of Justice who are trying to criminalize my sexual conduct, you know, when I was a single guy," he said in an interview with Axios.
"I have definitely, in my single days, provided for women I’ve dated," he added. "You know, I’ve paid for flights, for hotel rooms. I’ve been, you know, generous as a partner. I think someone is trying to make that look criminal when it is not."