The Justice Department has informed lawyers for at least one witness that it will not bring charges against Florida GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz after a years-long federal sex-trafficking investigation.
Senior officials reached out to lawyers for multiple witnesses on Wednesday, a source familiar with the matter told CNN, to inform them of the decision not to prosecute Gaetz.
The final decision was made by Department of Justice leadership after investigators recommended against charges last year.
“We have just spoken with the DOJ and have been informed that they have concluded their investigation into Congressman Gaetz and allegations related to sex trafficking and obstruction of justice and they have determined not to bring any charges against him,” Gaetz’s lawyers, Marc Mukasey and Isabelle Kirshner, said in a statement.
Tim Jansen, a high-powered lawyer representing the congressman’s ex-girlfriend, said that DOJ officials reached out to him Wednesday and told him they would not be charging Gaetz. The ex-girlfriend was a key witness in the case and had testified before the grand jury in Orlando last year.
The congressman’s office said in a separate statement that the department informed them the investigation has ended and no charges will be brought.
The DOJ’s formal decision not to charge Gaetz, who has been serving in Congress since 2017, marks the end of a long-running investigation into allegations that the congressman violated federal law by paying for sex, including with women who were younger than 18 years old.
Gaetz has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.
Prosecutors working on the case recommended against charging Gaetz in September, in part, because of questions over whether central witnesses in the investigation would be perceived as credible before a jury, CNN reported at the time.
But…
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