When the list of potential crimes includes sex-trafficking of minors, it’s hard to really say “it’s not the crime, it’s the coverup.” However, Rep. Matt Gaetz is doing his best to revive that old saw. In this case, by apparently talking with “an associate” about a plan to recruit Gaetz’s then girlfriend—who is not the same woman as his now fiancé—to provide an alibi for why Gaetz’s paying women to have sex with him, wasn’t really paying women to have sex with him. Whether or not the girlfriend was to be paid for this, isn’t clear.

As CNN reports, the conversation over how to recruit the former girlfriend (who also happens to be a former Capitol intern) into acting as an alibi apparently happened in the fall of 2020. On the other end of this conversation, was almost certainly the now multiply indicted and jailed former Florida tax commissioner, Joel Greenberg. The conversation likely followed a series of texts in August of 2020 that were first reported by Politico. Using the app Whatsapp, Greenberg warned Gaetz and others that the FBI was closing in on him, and asked them for their help—including asking Gaetz to use his influence with Trump to get the prosecutor fired.

Gaetz appears to have taken some amount of action following these texts. Though it’s not clear how far the plan to rope a former girlfriend into the scheme proceeded, Gaetz’s response to the threat of impending legal action was enough that DOJ attorneys are supposedly contemplating another charge—obstruction.

And, coincidentally, it seems that Matt Gaetz just wired $155,000 across the country, and has nothing at all to show for it. Because that money “went missing.”

Greenberg pleaded guilty to a series of six charges on May 14, at least three of which are directly connected with the scheme in which women were being expedited to Gaetz after the Republican rep sent Greenberg cash via Venmo. As part of this scheme, Greenberg operated a fake ID operation out of his tax office that may have been used to provide IDs to underage girls—including at least one 17-year-old who Gaetz is suspected of sleeping with after providing her with “expenses” and “gifts.” 

Gaetz has denied asking Trump to pardon Greenberg, but he’s otherwise refused to make any statement about the case. So it’s unclear if he tried to lean into his White House role model for other assistance.

The position with the ex-girlfriend is even more vague. While earlier reporting—also at CNN—stated that the woman had agreed to be a witness and was cooperating with federal authorities, reporting on Thursday indicated that “she had not yet spoken to investigators,” which would seem very odd for someone who considered to be part of a cover-up scheme for a crime under investigation for almost a year.

But this is not the only strange Gaetz news in the last week. On Saturday, The Independent reported that Gaetz told a Florida television station that $155,000 he sent to purchase a yacht “went missing.” Gaetz blames the missing money on “malicious actors” saying that he was the “target of a financial crime.” His spokesperson also indicated that Gaetz had been targeted by foreign criminals.

However, it seems very strange that someone who is in the middle of being investigated for crimes, including possible schemes to cover-up his actions, should be shipping six-figures of cash across the country and have nothing to show for it. It’s almost as if Gaetz didn’t intend to buy a yacht, so much as someone’s silence. The FBI is supposedly looking into what happened to this money. They might want to check the bank accounts of that ex-girlfriend, and everyone else expected to act as a witness in the case against Gaetz.

In this case, it’s the crime and it’s the cover-up.