Two women and one underage girl claim, in a new court filing in a long-running case, that Republican congressman Matt Gaetz attended a sex and drugs party in his native Florida.
Gaetz is close to Donald Trump and helped prep him for the September 10 presidential debate against Vice President Kamala Harris on ABC. He also played a pivotal role in the removal of Kevin McCarthy as Speaker of the House in 2023.
Newsweek sought email comment on Friday from Gaetz, who has consistently denied any wrongdoing.
The allegations are contained in a federal lawsuit between Chris Dorworth, a lobbyist friend of Gaetz, and lawyers who represented Dorworth plus a 17-year-old girl, identified only as A.B. While Dorworth has withdrawn his original claim against his lawyers, they are suing the lobbyist for costs.
What Was Claimed in the Court Docs
According to the original lawsuit filed by Dorworth, the defendants "agreed that they would provide false information to the authorities and the federal grand jury regarding Dorworth, Matt Gaetz and others" and that one of the defendants, lawyer Joel Greenberg, directed "A.B. and her friend" to falsely implicate Dorworth and Gaetz in their grand jury testimony.
The defendants strongly deny this claim in their filing, made on September 19. Newsweek sought email comment from Joel Greenberg's attorney on Monday.
The filing claims Gaetz attended a drug-fueled sex party, where the underage girl was present. The 17-year-old high school student, A.B., allegedly went to the July 15, 2017, party at Dorworth's house in her mother's car, the online news site Notus reported.
Another young woman, identified only as K.M., provided a sworn statement in which she said the 17-year-old girl was naked and people were at the party to "engage in sexual activities" and to take "alcohol, cocaine, ecstasy … and marijuana," Notus reported.
There is no suggestion that Gaetz did anything improper at the party. There are also conflicting accounts of his attendance at the party.
A woman, identified only as B.G. in court documents, made a sworn statement alleging Gaetz was there, contradicting a statement by Dorworth, who said Gaetz was not.
According to the defense, cellphone records show that Gaetz and Dorworth texted each other 30 times on the day of the party and that Gaetz called Dorworth twice in the hours before the party, which they claim lends credence to the belief that Gaetz was at the party.
The lawsuit involves over $35,000 in legal fees. Even though Dorworth withdrew the lawsuit he took against his lawyers, the case remains open, as his lawyers say he should pay them over $35,000 for the money they spent defending themselves.
In Thursday's filing, they quote William Shakespeare's play Macbeth in alleging that Dorworth's claim against them was "sound and fury, signifying nothing."