The man accused of trying to extort $ 25 million from deputy Matt Gaetz’s family admitted on Monday that he asked the congressman’s father for money – but denied it was an extortion.
Bob Kent, a former Air Force intelligence officer, confirmed to Sirius Radio host Michael Smerconish that he asked Florida Republican Don Gaetz’s father for money last month.
The funds, Kent said, were to pay for an effort to free Robert Levinson, a former FBI agent who disappeared in Iran in 2007, and is believed to be dead. Kent said he has video evidence that Levinson is still alive and is being held hostage.
Kent said he met Don Gaetz, a wealthy former Florida politician, in his office on March 17 – and told him that his son was having “legal problems” and might want to “generate goodwill” by helping with the rescue effort.
“I explained that in no way am I trying to extort him and that if he decides not to help us, he will never hear from me again,” Kent told Smerconish.
“Matt Gaetz needs good publicity and I need $ 25 million to save Robert Levinson,” he added.
Kent insisted that his intention was not to blackmail the Gaetz family.
“I never threatened the man – in fact, it was the other way around: I told him that if he decides not to help us, he will never hear from me again,” said Kent, adding, “I can’t avoid what it looks like. “
Documents obtained by the Washington Examiner, however, showed how Kent allegedly texted Don Gaetz saying he had a plan that could make “future legal and political problems go away”.
Kent also gave Don a document called “Welcome Project” that detailed the alleged federal investigation against Matt Gaetz and claimed that the FBI had pictures of the legislator in a “sex orgy with underage prostitutes”.
“Our strategy for Congressman Gaetz to mitigate his legal and political problems would be for him, or someone else, to provide the necessary funds to obtain Robert Levinson’s immediate release from captivity in Iran,” the document said.
Kent said the document was written by Stephen Alford, a developer in Florida who had previously been accused of fraud.
The transfer of funds, Kent said, would have been “honest”, with the money being channeled by David McGee, a former federal prosecutor who served as a lawyer for the Levinson family.
Don Gaetz contacted the FBI about the proposal and the agency is investigating whether it constitutes an extortion attempt against the Gaetz clan, The Washington Post reported last week.
Kent said he was interviewed by the FBI and is cooperating.
It is unclear how Kent and his companions knew that Matt Gaetz, 38, was being investigated by the Department of Justice.
The New York Times reported last week that the DOJ is investigating whether Gaetz paid a 17-year-old girl to have sex and induced her to travel, which would violate federal sex trafficking laws.
After the report was released, Gaetz publicly linked the investigation to what he claimed was an attempt at extorting McGee against his family.
The former DOJ official said that Gaetz’s accusation was false, telling the Washington Post: “It is a blatant attempt to divert attention from the fact that he is being investigated for child sex trafficking.”
The Gaetz investigation also focuses on whether the congressman paid to have sex with several women recruited online.
He denied the charges.