It seems like a bad sign for former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., and a commentary on where the country is right now, that media reports about him paying for sex must emphasize that the recipient was not a literal child.

In a story published Monday night, NBC News reported that Gaetz, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to be the nation’s top law enforcement officer, “paid an adult woman for sex in 2017,” according to the woman’s attorney. At a drug-fueled party in Orlando, the woman — who was 19 — said she was “taken upstairs to have sex” with Gaetz within minutes of her arrival; later, according to her lawyer, she witnessed Gaetz having sex with her friend, who was just 17.

Joel Leppard, the attorney, also represents another woman who told congressional investigators that Gaetz paid her for sex at parties that were apparently a regular thing during his stint in Congress, which ended in his resignation last week and forced the House Ethics Committee to shelve a report on all the allegations against the former Florida lawmaker. Gaetz was also investigated for sex trafficking by the Department of Justice, which declined to pursue charges. He has denied any wrongdoing.

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According to Leppard, however, there are receipts: Not only did Gaetz pay for sex on his Venmo account, the attorney claims, he also used a PayPal account registered to Nestor Galban; in a 2020 post on........

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