close
close

Association-anemone

Bite-sized brilliance in every update

Hacker steals testimony file from Matt Gaetz’s accusers: report
asane

Hacker steals testimony file from Matt Gaetz’s accusers: report

An unknown hacker obtained a copy of the testimony from a woman who was 17 when she allegedly had sex with Matt Gaetz in 2017, according to a shocking new report by New York Times. The hacker captured the computer file through a secure link shared between lawyers representing the women who allege they had sex with Gaetz and sold him illegal drugs, allegations the former Florida congressman denies.

The file, which does not yet appear to have been publicly leaked, includes 24 exhibits, the most potentially damaging being testimony from a woman who says she was 17 when Gaetz had sex with her, according to the Times. The filing also includes corroborating testimony from a woman who said she personally witnessed the sexual encounter, an allegation that first became public over the weekend when the story was reported by ABC News.

Whoever accessed the file used the name Altam Beezley at exactly 1:23 PM ET on Monday, according to the Times. It appears that one of the attorneys connected to the case tried to email this Beezley, but received a rejection email notifying the sender that the email address does not exist.

Gaetz has been in the headlines non-stop since being nominated by President-elect Donald Trump to become US attorney general, a highly controversial choice given the Justice Department’s investigations into the former congressman. Not to mention the fact that even his own colleagues didn’t seem to know that Gaetz was a lawyer. Gaetz resigned from his position in Congress immediately after Trump’s nomination was announced, a very strange move for someone who had just been re-elected just weeks earlier.

Gaetz was investigated by the House Ethics Committee over the alleged sexual misconduct and drug use incident, but it is unclear if the final report will ever be released. House Speaker Mike Johnson, a fellow Republican and Trump ally, said he would “strongly urge” that the report not be released. Gaetz was also investigated by the Justice Department for years for alleged sex trafficking and his alleged sex with a minor, but charges were never brought in that case.

Curiously, the documents that were leaked on Monday do not appear to be from the House Ethics Committee’s investigation, but from evidence in a civil lawsuit brought by Gaetz’s friend Christopher Dorworth, according to the Times. Dorworth claims he was defamed by Joel Greenberg, another friend of Gaetz, who is currently serving an 11-year sentence for sex trafficking the woman who says she was 17 when Gaetz allegedly had sex with her.

The 24 exhibits that were broken into were prepared by the unnamed woman and her attorney and include testimony from Dorworth, Dorworth’s wife, and Michael Fischer, Gaetz’s former campaign treasurer, who allegedly attended one of the parties sexual, according to the Times. The file even has gate logs showing who was coming during the party in question, which took place in July 2017, according to the newspaper.

Even Fox News host Trey Gowdy warned against confirming Gaetz Tuesday morninggiven the current controversy and his commitment to punish Trump’s political enemies.

“Don’t use the justice system as a weapon. The message to Republicans is don’t do it on the other side either, with this absurd AG pick you just made,” Gowdy said.

Whatever is in those files that were hacked “is said to be more damaging to Mr. Gaetz than to his accusers,” according to the Times. So the world will have to wait and see if this leaks. Because it’s hard to believe that whoever was behind the computer intrusion intended to sit on this information forever.