A hacker has reportedly gained access to damaging testimony against Matt Gaetz, including that of the woman who said she had sex with Donald Trump’s controversial attorney general pick when she was 17, and from another woman corroborating that account.
The unidentified individual downloaded a digital file containing 24 exhibits that was being shared between lawyers whose clients have testified against Gaetz, a person close to the situation told The New York Times.
The person, using the name Altam Beezley, downloaded the file on Monday at 1:23 p.m., the unnamed source said. But when a lawyer reached out to the email associated with the apparent pseudonym, they received an automated response saying the account does not exist.
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The hacker, whose motives are unknown, does not so far seem to have made the stolen material public, the Times reported.
The hacked documents are associated with a defamation suit brought by Christopher Dorworth, a friend of Gaetz, against Joel Greenberg, another former friend currently in prison for sex-trafficking, and the young woman. Both had said that Dorworth hosted the drug-fueled sex parties at which Gaetz and the then-minor were present.
Dorworth has since dropped the suit, but in October asked for the testimony associated with the case not to be made public.
The hacked information is also related to at least two other investigations into the allegation that Gaetz had sex with a minor—the since-closed and sealed probe into Gaetz by the Justice Department and another by the House Ethics Committee.
Gaetz has denied all wrongdoing, and Trump has stood by him as an attorney general pick.
“Matt Gaetz will be the next Attorney General,” Alex Pfeiffer, a spokesperson for Trump’s transition team, told ABC News in response to the latest wave of allegations against him. “He’s the right man for the job and will end the weaponization of our justice system.”
Gaetz, a former Florida representative, resigned his position in Congress hours after Trump announced him as the prospective nominee for attorney general, which was just days before the committee was set to vote on whether to release a report detailing its findings.
As Democrats and some Republicans call for the report to be made public, the committee has rescheduled its vote on the matter for this Wednesday.
The un-redacted file stolen by the hacker, which shows witnesses’ names, also includes sworn statements from Dorworth and his wife, testimony from Gaetz’s former campaign treasurer Michael Fischer, and other evidence, such as visitor logs that show who entered the Dorworth’s home on the night in July 2017 when Gaetz is alleged to have had sex with the underaged girl.
It is more damaging to Gaetz than to his accusers, according to the person familiar with the situation.
