Matt Gaetz associate reportedly 'guilted' underage girl after they paid her for sex
You'd think the ethics of paying an underage girl for sex are cut-and-dry, but as Joel Greenberg tells it, he and Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) are actually victims in the alleged situation.
The Daily Beast dropped a bombshell report in the case against Gaetz on Thursday, revealing a letter reportedly written to Trump ally Roger Stone in which Greenberg, a former Florida tax collector, apparently confesses that he and Gaetz had sex with an underage girl.
But according to Greenberg, the situation is largely the fault of the then 17-year-old — not of the two adult men allegedly paying her for sex. Greenberg reportedly wrote in the letter that they both thought the girl was 19, and upon finding out she was underage, Greenberg "confronted" the girl to stress "how serious of a situation this was, how many people she put in danger." The girl then "apologized and recognized that by lying about her age, she endangered many people."
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As The Guardian's Moira Donegan pointed out, Greenberg reportedly "coerced a teenager into sleeping with them" and then "guilted" her over the situation.
Greenberg also emphasized that he and Gaetz "immediately" ended contact with the girl after finding out her real age — but that apparently didn't stop him from reportedly hitting her up again once she turned 18.
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Marianne is The Week’s Social Media Editor. She is a native Tennessean and recent graduate of Ohio University, where she studied journalism and political science. Marianne has previously written for The Daily Beast, The Crime Report, and The Moroccan Times.
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