Matt Gaetz Venmo History Shows Cash For 'Love Hotel,' Total Lack Of Judgment

Rep. OPSEC, FTW!

The vampires in the Sunshine State are getting a lot of sunlight thanks to Rep. Matt Gaetz and his wingman Joel Greenberg. Reporters are crawling all over Orlando digging up details of the sex and drug parties attended by powerful politicians, so every nasty detail is going to come out, along with all the names — and probably sooner, rather than later.

Hot on the heels of CNN 's revelation yesterday that attractive young women were paid to show up at "house parties" where they were instructed to put away their cell phones as a prophylactic against documentation of the narcotic-fueled bacchanals, the Daily Beast got their hands on more of Greenberg's Venmo history.

Let's just say former Seminole County tax collector Greenberg is no Heidi Fleiss.

Greenberg, who is under indictment on 33 charges including stalking, attempted bribery, fraud, and trafficking a minor, Venmo-ed thousands of dollars to women with descriptions which might as well have read "Not sex. Haha, just kidding, SEXXXXXXXX!"

An examination of Greenberg's Venmo transactions shows dozens of suspicious and curiously titled payments. Some were as simple as "Ass" or a lipstick kiss mark ("💋"). Others were more opaque, such as "Stuff" and "Orher stuff" [sic].

Three payments in the reviewed documents—in amounts of $500, $500, and $250—were designated for "Ice cream." Five other payments were for "Salad," one of which topped $1,000.

In the memo field for one $500 payment to a woman on Friday July 7, 2017, Greenberg used only the policewoman emoji ("👮").

Golly, do you think "Ice cream" is code for something? It's probably for the best that this jackass is flipping ; if reporters can dig this shit up, God only knows what investigators with subpoena power were able to unearth.

Beast also uncovered a $300 payment in June of 2017 for "Food" from Greenberg to the young woman at the center of the sex trafficking allegation, who would have been 17 at the time. The woman went by "Vintage 99" on the Seeking Arrangement "sugar daddy" website, an apparent reference to her birth year.

And there are plenty of unflattering Gaetz revelations, too.

In the Venmo transactions reviewed by The Daily Beast, however, there are at least 16 payments in 2017 totaling nearly $5,000 to a woman who would later go on to date Matt Gaetz. Additionally, Greenberg paid her $1,500 over the course of two days in April 2017 using Cash App. That woman—who came to Washington, D.C. as an intern in January 2018—has said she dated Gaetz during and after her senior year in college.

Tuesday, Politico reported that federal investigators seized both Gaetz's iPhone and the phone of his former girlfriend last December. Safe bet this trail of payments has something to do with it.

And Congressman Blabbercock was apparently no more discreet than his dipshit buddy.

Gaetz made only one previously unreported transaction in the newly obtained documents: a payment from the Florida congressman to the former Seminole County tax commissioner for $300 on November 1, 2018, with the love hotel emoji ("🏩") in the memo field. The Daily Beast was unable to tie that transaction directly to any woman, but confirmed that Greenberg booked one night for that date at The Alfond Inn, a luxury hotel in Winter Park, Florida.

Who even knew there was a love hotel emoji? Incidentally, the Alfond Inn is associated with Rollins College. You'd hope that a United States congressman in his thirties would have the sense not to pay for sex with a college student at her own school. On the other hand, these are not very bright guys, and things do seem to have gotten very much out of hand.

Most of the women in question, including "Vintage 99" and Gaetz's old girlfriend, have wisely shut the hell up on the advice of counsel. But no one has ever accused Matt Gaetz of having good judgment. After his disastrous interview with Tucker Carlson , Gaetz appears to be persona non grata at his regular Fox stomping grounds. So he's booking a six-figure ad buy.

 Politico reports:

The new 30-second ad will be featured in the Florida Republican's congressional district and nationally on select cable networks, according to a statement from Gaetz's congressional campaign. The ad marks the beginning of Gaetz's counteroffensive, as he "fight[s] back against a multiweek fake news cycle against him," it said.

UH HUH. No doubt his fancy new lawyers are delighted .

Well, if you can't get earned media, you just have to pay for it. Luckily the congressman has some experience with that.

[ Beast / Politico ]

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