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Some years ago, I heard that Matt Gaetz had been accused of having sex with an underage girl. Much later, I understood that the claim had turned out to be false and had been dropped. But now, following Gaetz’s nomination as Attorney General, it has reappeared in the guise of a House Ethics Committee investigation and attendant newspaper leaks.

Headlines have been full of salacious references to sex with a 17-year-old. I wondered why that was ever a matter for criminal investigation, since in most states 17 would be above the age of consent. But the age of consent is 18 in Florida, where I take the incident supposedly occurred.

So, how credible is the accusation? Mollie Hemingway has the most detailed explanation of the facts that I have seen, and the answer is: not credible at all.

The source of the allegation is a jailbird named Joel Greenberg:

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. …

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.”

We don’t know the identity of the woman, who of course is now of age. But she apparently is a prostitute, and it was Greenberg, not Gaetz, who was sleeping with her.

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 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.

More at the link. The bottom line is that it is easy to understand why DOJ dropped its investigation of Gaetz two years ago. It is also easy to understand why the Democrats are seizing on such a weak reed to attack the prospective Attorney General. In their current, desperate mode, any smear is good enough for them.