Tuesday, April 06, 2021

Matt Gaetz Fought To Keep "Nonconsensual Pornography" (aka Revenge Porn) Legal; He Also Has A Long History Of Coercing Young Girls Into Sex And Then Threatening To Ruin Their Lives If They Expose Him

Jason Garcia, Orlando Sentinel, April 5, 2021
While serving in the Florida Legislature, U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz opposed a bill meant to stop people from sharing sexually explicit images of their ex-lovers because Gaetz believed that recipients of those images had a right to share them, according to the sponsor of the legislation.

Former state Rep. Tom Goodson, a Republican from Brevard County, spent three years sponsoring legislation to outlaw nonconsensual pornography — sometimes called "revenge porn."

And Goodson said Monday that Gaetz was the chief opponent to that legislation. Goodson said he remembered a meeting in which Gaetz said that if someone sends an intimate image to their romantic partner, then that image becomes the partner's property to use however they want.

"Matt was absolutely against it. He thought the picture was his to do with what he wanted," Goodson said. "He thought that any picture was his to use as he wanted to, as an expression of his rights."

Neither Gaetz nor his office responded to requests for comment Monday. The Panhandle Republican is reportedly under federal investigation over allegations that he had sex with a 17-year-old girl and that he and former Seminole County Tax Collector Joel Greenberg recruited other women online and paid them for sex. . . .

The Washington Post reported last week that Gaetz boasted to people in Florida politics about women he met through Greenberg, citing two unnamed people who said they heard Gaetz's comments directly. Those people also told the Post that Gaetz had shown them videos on his phone of naked or topless women on multiple occasions.

CNN reported that Gaetz showed other lawmakers photos and videos of naked women that he said he had sex with — including while on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives. CNN cited two unnamed people who said they had been shown the material. . . .

Beginning around 2013, activists spent at least three years trying to pass a nonconsensual pornography law through the Florida Legislature. But they had trouble getting by Gaetz. . . .

At the time, several other lawmakers and lobbyists who worked on the issue said privately that Gaetz was the chief antagonist to the legislation, though nobody would say so publicly.

"If you crossed him, he was after you," Goodson said Monday.

The nonconsensual porn legislation finally passed in 2015, clearing the state House on a 114-2 vote. The only two no votes were Gaetz and former Republican state Rep. John Tobia, who was one of Gaetz's roommates in Tallahassee and is now a Brevard County commissioner.

But even then, the House significantly weakened the legislation before approving it.

Matt Gaetz Said His ‘Travel Records’ Would Exonerate Him. Not So Fast.
Roger Sollenberger, The Daily Beast, April 6, 2021

When it first came out last week that Rep. Matt Gaetz was under investigation for his sexual involvement with a 17-year-old, the Florida Republican said his travel records would exonerate him. . . .

What Gaetz knew—or should have known—is that there are no such public records, at least not when it comes to his private life.

There are, however, campaign filings. Among all the Matt Gaetz revelations last week was the news that the Justice Department is looking into the Florida Republican's potential use of campaign funds for personal expenses. And the reality of those campaign-finance reports is that they raise more questions than they answer about these alleged scandals. . . .

As Gaetz knows, his campaign filings don't have any sort of information that would prove he never participated in a sex ring or paid for the travel of an underage minor. What his filings do show, though, is that Gaetz had a close relationship with Joel Greenberg—the Seminole County tax collector indicted on sex-trafficking charges.


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