Donald Trump's attorney general pick Matt Gaetz had sex with minor: Report

US President Donald Trump's pick for attorney general Matt Gaetz has landed in hot water after a woman told the House Ethics Committee she saw him having sex with a minor.

According to CNN, the committee had been probing allegations that Gaetz may have “engaged in sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, accepted improper gifts, dispensed special privileges and favours to individuals with whom he had a personal relationship, and sought to obstruct government investigations of his conduct."

But soon after Trump's nomination, Gaetz resigned from his post as a congressman to nullify the investigation on Friday (Nov 15).

The congressional investigation has jurisdiction over a member only when they are serving in Congress.

The testimony was first reported by ABC News and a spokesperson told CNN that “Merrick Garland’s DOJ cleared Matt Gaetz and didn’t charge him.”

Gaetz's Response

Another report by ABC said that a woman who was at the centre of the investigation into sex trafficking allegations on Gaetz revealed that the former congressman had sex with her when she was just 17.

Gaetz has long denied all the allegations against him during the investigation.

"Your correspondence of September 4 asks whether I have engaged in sexual activity with any individual under 18. The answer to this question is unequivocally NO. You can apply this response to every version of this question, in every forum," Gaetz said in a statement posted to his social media account.

'Creepy, Paedophile'

Gaetz's sister-in-law, Roxanne Luckey called him "weird and creepy" and labelled him as a "paedophile" in a TikTok video long before he married Ginger Luckey.

Roxanne said she was not surprised when she found Gaetz was undergoing an investigation regarding alleged sex crimes.

"I saw the character and the type of person he is," Roxanne said, reported The Times of India.

Roxanne's sister (Gaetz's wife) hit back at her saying Roxanne had a history of destructive behaviour.

'Most Important Member of Trump's Administration'

Trump on November 13 announced that he had selected Gaetz, a US representative, to be his nominee for attorney general. “Few issues in America are more important than ending the partisan Weaponization of our Justice System,” Trump said in a statement announcing the selection of the Florida lawmaker.

Trump's inner circle has described the attorney general as the most important member of the administration after Trump himself, key to his plans to carry out mass deportations, pardoned January 6 rioters and soughtretribution against those who prosecuted him over the past four years.

(With inputs from agencies)