Potentially damning testimony against attorney general nominee Matt Gaetz has reportedly been hacked from a digital file shared by lawyers representing a woman who said she was paid to have sex with the former congressman when she was 17 years old.
The information hacked early Monday afternoon contains a couple dozen exhibits presented to the House Ethics Committee and the Justice Department, according to the New York Times.
The alleged hacker, who used the assumed alias Altam Beezley, reportedly obtained the documents in connection to a civil suit in which the information is also being used.
A Florida businessman is suing the woman who allegedly had sex with Gaetz as a teen, as well as a former friend of the ex-congressman’s for defaming him by claiming he hosted raunchy parties where illegal activity occurred. The stolen files are also said to include evidence calling into question the defendants’ accounts of those allegedly drug-fueled sex parties.
CBS News sources identified the hacker as an “unknown and unauthorized third party.”
The Justice Department has charged Gaetz with no crimes. He denies any wrongdoing.
The House committee meets Wednesday where it could decide to make its investigation into the 42-year-old Republican public.
None of the information hacked Monday appeared to have been disseminated online or to media organizations by late Tuesday afternoon.
President-elect Donald Trump tapped Gaetz be the nation’s leading law enforcement officer last week. He will need to be approved by a Republican-controlled Senate in 2025. Senators from both sides of the aisle have asked to see the House report.
