At the Ohio Political Summit, a gathering sponsored by the Strongsville GOP in suburban Cleveland, Gaetz said he is “being falsely accused of exchanging money for naughty favors,” according to NBC News.
“Yet, Congress has reinstituted a process that legalizes the corrupt act of exchanging money for favors, through earmarks, and everybody knows that that’s the corruption,” he added, according to NBC News.
Gaetz’s remarks come after court documents filed on Friday showed that Joel Greenberg, a former tax collector and associate of the congressman, said he will help investigators as they continue their criminal sex trafficking investigation.
The investigation is reportedly looking into whether Gaetz and Greenberg utilized the internet to find women they could pay for sex, and whether Gaetz had a sexual relationship with a minor who he paid to travel with him, according to The New York Times.