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A chief witness and onetime friend of Representative Matt Gaetz<\/strong> is cooperating<\/a> in an unfolding House Ethics Committee investigation into whether the Florida politician had sex with an underage girl while in Congress, a lawyer for the witness said Friday.<\/p>\n Fritz Scheller<\/strong>, who represents Joel Greenberg<\/strong>, said that he had provided documents to the committee and that Greenberg \u201chas and will cooperate with any congressional request,\u201d The New York Times<\/em> reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n In May of 2021, Greenberg pled guilty to several charges, including sex trafficking, and is currently in his second year of an 11-year sentence. The former Florida tax collector was able to secure a more lenient punishment by agreeing to cooperate with a Justice Department investigation into Gaetz. In February of 2023, the department announced that it was closing the investigation without charging the Florida Representative with any crimes.<\/p>\n At the time of Greenberg\u2019s December 2022 sentencing, Scheller said he was \u201cdisappointed\u201d that the department hadn\u2019t charged anyone else, and, though he didn\u2019t name Gaetz, urged prosecutors to \u201cpursue others,\u201d including more \u201chigher-level\u201d figures, CNN reported<\/a>. When the DOJ ultimately declined to prosecute Gaetz, Scheller claimed that the move was evidence of \u201ctwo systems of justice,\u201d adding, \u201cWhy prosecute the privileged when defendants of limited culpability and means provide an easier target?\u201d<\/p>\n A Gaetz spokeswoman, Jillian Wyant<\/strong>, said Friday that the material Greenberg has provided to the Ethics Committee is the same that was reviewed by the Justice Department, which \u201cdeemed it unreliable and declined to press charges.\u201d Wyant added that the media \u201cshould not be laundering smears from people in prison.\u201d<\/p>\n The House committee originally opened<\/a> the investigation into whether Gaetz \u201cmay have engaged in sexual misconduct and\/or illicit drug use, shared inappropriate images or videos on the House floor, misused state identification records, converted campaign funds to personal use, and\/or accepted a bribe, improper gratuity, or impermissible gift\u201d in 2021, when Democrats controlled Congress.<\/p>\n But the ethics inquiry remained largely dormant until it was revived last year under GOP control.\u00a0<\/p>\n The committee began reaching out to witnesses in July, but it appeared sidetracked by its investigation into disgraced former New York Representative George Santos.<\/strong> The committee asked to interview a witness soon after it released a bombshell report on Santos, signaling that it was beginning to turn its attention back to Gaetz. More recent reporting from CNN suggests<\/a> that the inquiry is starting to look into possible sex crimes.<\/p>\n So far, Gaetz has denied any wrongdoing. In private communications reported<\/a> by The Daily Beast<\/em> in late January, he claimed that his push to oust former Speaker Kevin McCarthy<\/strong> was driven by a desire to retaliate against the California Representative, whom Gaetz blamed for the ethics probe. On Friday, McCarthy told<\/a> a media gaggle that the Florida congressman was afraid of the inquiry. \u201cIn the end, Gaetz would have a hard time being a member of Congress with staying out of jail too,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n