Records show Gaetz sent 10,000. dollars to two women who testified in the House of Representatives investigation

The House Ethics Committee obtained records, including a check and Venmo payment records, that appear to show that then-Republican. Matt Gaetz He paid more than $10,000 to two women who were later witnesses to sexual misconduct investigations by both the House and Justice Department, according to documents obtained by ABC News.

Venmo records show that between July 2017 and the end of January 2019, Gaetz – first elected in 2016 – allegedly made 27 Venmo payments totaling $10,224.02 to two witnesses who had more than 18 years old.

The payments, which sources said were disclosed in closed-door testimony, ranged from $100 to more than $700 each.

ABC News previously reported that House investigators subpoenaed Venmo for Gaetz’s records and showed them to witnesses, asking whether it was about sex or drugs. Venmo records of payments totaling more than $10,000 were shown to witnesses, who testified that some of the payments came from Gaetz and involved sex, a source familiar with the investigation told ABC News.

Gaetz, who was selected last Wednesday by President-elect Donald Trump to serve as attorney general in the new administration, resigned from the Chamber Immediately after Trump’s announcement, sources said, just days before the House Ethics Committee was set to consider releasing a report on its investigation into the Florida congressman.

The Justice Department spent years investigating allegations of sexual misconduct made against Gaetz, as well as allegations of obstruction of justice, before informing Gaetz last year that not press charges. Gaetz has long denied any wrongdoing related to the allegations investigated in congressional and Justice Department investigations.

“The Justice Department accessed approximately every financial transaction that Matt Gaetz ever made and concluded that he committed no crime,” Trump’s transition spokesman, Alex Pfeiffer, said in response to the ABC News reporting. “These leaks are intended to undermine the citizen mandate to reform the Department of Justice.”

“These are baseless allegations designed to derail the second Trump administration,” Pfeiffer said this week of the allegations involving Gaetz, which the Justice Department began investigating during the first Trump administration.

Descriptions in the “Notes” section for some of Gaetz’s alleged Venmo payments included labels such as “Gift,” “Car Deduction,” “Carts,” and “Snacks.” Other entries referred to “travel,” with one including a flight fare and the phrase “extra 4 people.”

This alleged flight fee appears to coincide with a September 2018 trip to the Bahamas, which ABC News previously reported was part of the Justice Department’s investigation into Gaetz.

The data shows that other payments use emojis, such as a wrapped gift or a hug emoji.

Payment records also show that in early January 2019, both witnesses received payments consistent with payments marked as “travel” around the time Gaetz allegedly arranged for the two women fly to New York for sex and accompanied him to an appearance on Fox News’ “Outnumbered,” ABC News previously reported.

The Ethics Committee also obtained a signed check made out to cash dated October 2018, purportedly from Gaetz for $750, with a note reading “Tuition Reimbursement.” According to a source familiar with the matter, a witness told the commission that Gaetz gave her the check. Gaetz’s name is printed in the upper left corner of the check along with his address.

Gaetz previously rejected allegations that he paid for sex, saying “someone is trying to re-categorize my generosity towards ex-girlfriends as something more inappropriate.”

The House Ethics Committee is expected to meet Wednesday and discuss whether to vote to release a report into Gaetz, even though the investigation ended with Gaetz’s resignation from the House, multiple sources told ABC News.