Robert Levinson.
The investigation into whether Rep. Matt Gaetz committed sex trafficking has become tangled with a head-spinning claim about an overseas rescue mission for a missing spy after the embattled Florida lawmaker insisted his family was actually the target of an extortion plot.
Gaetz has not been charged. Federal officials have not commented publicly.
One of the men Gaetz says was involved in the attempted extortiontoldThe Washington Postthat the lawmaker’s allegation was “a blatant attempt to distract from the fact that he’s under investigation for sex trafficking of minors.”
The other man Gaetz named said in a radio interview that while he did ask for money, it was not as part of a blackmail scheme.
Here’s what to know about this very unusual part of the case.
What Is Matt Gaetz Claiming About Extortion?
Gaetz has been a Florida Panhandle representative since 2017 and he built a profile in recent years as a staunch support of former PresidentDonald Trump(with a similar penchant for provocation).
Gaetz alleges Kent and McGee were behind the $25 million plot.
Hereportedly gavescreenshots, an email and other documents toThe Washington Examinerthat he said supports his claim that his family was being extorted.
Among these is a message Gaetz’s father said he received on March 16 from Kent suggesting “a plan that can make [Matt Gaetz’s] future legal and political problems go away,” theExaminerreported. Kent has said the overture was not an attempt at extortion.
TheExamineralso reported on an email it said showed the Gaetz family was working with the FBI in examining the matter.
Rep. Matt Gaetz.Elijah Nouvelage/Bloomberg via Getty
According to the texts and documents that Rep. Gaetz reportedly provided, the $25 million was purportedly to fund a rescue mission to find former U.S. intelligence officer Robert Levinson.
ThePostreported that Levinson, who had retired from the FBI, “disappeared under murky circumstances in March 2007.” He had been on Kish Island, a tiny resort destination off the southern coast of Iran.
Levinson was there as part of an “unauthorized trip for the CIA to gather intelligence on Iran’s nuclear program,” according to thePost.
The U.S. government, which long lobbied for answers, now believes that Levinson — the country’s longest-held Iranian hostage — died in captivity sometime prior to March 2020. McGee, a friend of Levinson’s, has worked as the family’s attorney.
Iranhas deniedany involvement.
Robert Levinson’s Disappearance
Both the Obama and Trump administrations reportedly made efforts to bring Levinson home, to no avail.
Barry Meier, aTimesreporter, wrote a book on Levinson’s disappearance and the wide array of people who have attempted to track him down over the years.
“For years, there’s been a steady parade of well-meaning, crazy and even corrupt people who have tried to help the Levinson family or tried to use Bob’s case to help themselves,” Meier, the author ofMissing Man: The American Spy Who Vanished in Iran,toldNewsweekin 2019. “It’s enough to make your head spin.”
Levinson’s familywrote on Facebooklast March they had reviewed information that “led both [the federal government] and us to conclude that our wonderful husband and father died while in Iranian custody” sometime before theCOVID-19 pandemic.
“His body has not yet been returned to us for a proper burial,” his family wrote. “We don’t even know when, or even if, his body would be returned to us.”
But Gaetz is now claiming Kent and McGee approached his family about funding a rescue mission for the agent, believing he was somehow still alive.
McGee’s law firm, Beggs & Lane, told PEOPLE in a statement that Gaetz’s claims about him are both “false and defamatory.”
“While he was with the DOJ he would never have entertained a scheme such as what Congressman Gaetz suggests nor would he today,” McGee’s firm said. “Unsubstantiated allegations do not change that fact.”
How Is This Involved with Matt Gaetz’s Case?
It’s not clear how Kent or McGee would have known about the FBI’s investigation into Gaetz’s supposed sex crimes, which was not made public until aTimesreportlast week.
Kent, the former Air Force intelligence officer,told SiriusXMon Monday that he did ask Gaetz’s father for $25 million but that it was not an extortion attempt.
Rather, Kent said, he told Gaetz’s father if he and his son did not agree to the plan, then the family would simply never hear from Kent about it again.
“I didn’t have any details about his son [Rep. Gaetz],” Kent latertoldCNN. “I stopped him immediately and explained that this was not an extortion attempt. I said this was a legitimate offer to help rescue Robert Levinson.”
Robert Levinson.Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP/Shutterstock
Don Gaetz, the lawmaker’s father,toldPoliticolast week that he had worn a wire in assisting an FBI investigation into the alleged extortion plot.
Rep. Gaetz’s office did not respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
The Department of Justice declined to comment when PEOPLE asked to confirm whether there was an extortion investigation.
Kent separately told CNN host Chris Cuomo he did meet with FBI officials to discuss the meeting with Gaetz’s father.
He also said he believes Levinson is still alive and that an independent rescue mission he helped orchestrate last July “fell apart.”
“If the allegations are true, [Rep. Gaetz] is in need of some good will from the government,” Kent told CNN. “I’m in need of a sponsor to fund the rescue project.”
source: people.com
