It certainly doesn’t seem that many people have a whole lot of good feeling about U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, but I am wondering if they are getting out the tar and feathers a bit soon.
Unless law enforcement has more than what salon.com has reported, the case against looks tenuous. Salon has reported Joel Greenberg wrote in a confession letter Gaetz paid for sex with a 17-year-old girl.
Salon’s article
Here are some quotes, which I may have chronologically out of order. Greenberg wrote these things, Salon said.
-
“. . . Venmo transactions, Cash App or other payments were made to these girls on behalf of the Congressman.”
-
“They know he paid me to pay the girls and that he and I both had sex with the girl who was underage.”
-
“. . . payments were made to these girls on behalf of the Congressman.”
He said, passively, payments were made. By whom? Him or Gaetz?
I don’t see the money put in Gaetz’ hand and it passing to the girls.
I am no Gaetz fan, but if this is evidence, nothing will happen to Gaetz. Let’s just hope if Gaetz did it he is justly tried and punished.
Is Salon’s headline stronger then its facts warrant?
For what it’s worth, I was going to ask if is exculpatory if a man thought the woman was 18? Or if it also is exculpatory for her to have said she was 18. But I think I know the answers to those.
As I understood these stories (published in all the major media, not just Salon), Greenburg’s confession letter says that Gaetz gave the money to Greenburg to be passed on to the girls, and knowingly so. Isn’t that culpable enough?
There was also the discussion of coughing up $250K to help make a pardon happen. I wonder who was supposed to ultimately get that money? Was it for Stone? Or for Stone to pass on to the Trump Campaign? Or meant for Trump personally? Who was supposed to be the ultimate bribee here?
I truly hope the authorities have evidence that Gaetz paid. So far the news stories don’t show it. It’s just Greenberg making the claim. Isn’t he a wonderful person?
If they have electronic evidence, then I hope it comes out soon.
Its difficult to set aside my dislike for such a disgusting person as Gaetz and not rush to judgement for conviction until I see evidence. How reliable is Greenberg? Have they talked to the girls?
Seems unfair to Gaetz. Everyone told him Venmo was a good way to make minor purchases.
Greenberg has already been indicted, so… yeah, they have the evidence.
Moreover, The Daily Mail reported the woman, who allegedly was a minor at the time of the sexual encounter, testified in front of a grand jury about having sex with a Republican Congressman.
Speaking of premature, isn’t this post way too early? There is an ongoing investigation. AFAIK, no official word from that investigation has been issued. We don’t know what they’ve found and who they’ve talked to.
It’s true press reports are being released about what information they’ve been able to gather, but that’s always true with every investigation. We know that Rudy Giuliani was the subject of an FBI raid. We know nothing about what they were specially looking for and what they will find. How is this any different from Gaetz?
You seem to want a system in which nothing is said before the trial. That might be a better system than ours but ours is the one that exists. I thought that everyone knew better than to prejudge verdicts by newspaper articles but you seem to be jumping the gun before the race is even scheduled.