Report: Matt Gaetz Should Be Weeping, Rocking Back and Forth in Fetal Position Right Now

Now, we‘re no lawyers, but it certainly seems as though one would have to bring something big—like, say, evidence a member of Congress committed a host of crimes—to get prosecutors to whittle one’s charges down from 33 to just 6. According to the Post, the government also agreed to recommend other potential sentencing breaks, wherein a judge could choose to ignore the minimum required sentence, and Greenberg could get less than 12 years. That is, if he is determined to have provided “substantial assistance.”

While the plea agreement did not identify Gaetz by name, it laid out how Greenberg paid women for sex not just with him but unnamed “others.” According to The Washington Post, Gaetz repeatedly boasted of the “access to women that Joel provided him.” And as The New York Times reported back in March, the Department of Justice only began to look into allegations that Gaetz had compensated women for sex and slept with a minor, who he also allegedly transported across state lines, as it was investigating Greenberg, whom Gaetz met in 2017. At that point, the duo proceeded to allegedly commit a bunch of sex crimes together, for which they seemingly left a digital paper trail on Venmo and other online payment platforms.

Earlier this month, the Daily Beast reported that Greenberg had written a “confession” letter, in the hopes of obtaining a pardon from Donald Trump via Roger Stone, in which he admitted facilitating Gaetz’s interactions with the women and paying them on the congressman’s behalf. In April, after news broke that Greenberg would likely cooperate with the feds, reporters asked his lawyer, Fritz Scheller, “Does Matt Gaetz have anything to worry about?” After bursting out laughing, Scheller responded, “I’m sure Matt Gaetz is not feeling very comfortable today.” On Monday, Scheller declined to say what Greenberg’s plea would mean for Gaetz, only offering: “To paraphrase The Matrix, the plea agreement has a path, Mr. Greenberg just has to walk the path.”

During Greenberg’s hearing, a plane towing a banner reading, “Tick Tock Matt Gaetz” flew over the courthouse, which put him in good company with his buddy Donald Trump, who was welcomed to Florida in January with a plane flying near Mar-a-Lago with a banner reading, “Worst President Ever.”