David McGee, a onetime Justice Department prosecutor whom Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) has accused of extorting him, denied the congressman’s accusation on Tuesday night.
Gaetz is under investigation by the DOJ for possible sex trafficking law violations involving a 17-year-old girl.
McGee, who now works at a private law firm in Florida, told the Daily Beast on Tuesday that Gaetz’s evidence-free claims were “completely, totally false.”
“This is a blatant attempt to distract from the fact that Matt Gaetz is apparently about to be indicted for sex trafficking underage girls,” the attorney said.
During an off-the-rails interview with Fox News host Tucker Carlson earlier on Tuesday night, Gaetz accused McGee of demanding $25 million from his father to make the “horrible sex trafficking allegations against me go away.”
In an even wilder accusation, the Republican also claimed that McGee had offered a pardon from President Joe Biden in exchange for the bribe.
Katie Benner, one of the New York Times reporters who had originally reported on the Justice Department’s investigation into Gaetz, also disputed the congressman’s claims.
“[McGee] is not involved in the investigation,” Benner told MSNBC host Rachel Maddow. “That person is in private practice and does not work at the Justice Department.”
