Rep. Matt Gaetz denies allegations of affair with underage girl
On the Fox News program “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., refuted reports of an illegal affair with a 17-year-old.
Video Transcript
TUCKER CARLSON: Congressman, thanks so much for coming on. Appreciate it. So, this is obviously a serious allegation. Tell us what the truth is, from your perspective.
MATT GAETZ: It is a horrible allegation and it is a lie. The "New York Times" is running a story that I have traveled with a 17-year-old woman and that is verifiably false. People can look at my travel records and see that that is not the case. What is happening is an extortion of me and my family involving a former Department of Justice official.
On March 16, my father got a text message demanding a meeting wherein a person demanded $25 million in exchange for making horrible sex trafficking allegations against me go away. Our family was so troubled by that, we went to the local FBI, and the FBI and the Department of Justice were so concerned about this attempted extortion of a member of Congress that they asked my dad to wear a wire, which he did, with the former Department of Justice official. Tonight, I am demanding that the Department of Justice and the FBI release the audio recordings that were made under their supervision and at their direction, which will prove my innocence and that will show that these allegations aren't true, they're merely intended to try to bleed my family out of money.
