Matt Gaetz’s Friend Demands Court Destroy Records About Sex Party

A “close friend” of Matt Gaetz, Donald Trump’s nominee for U.S. attorney general, has asked a court to destroy records that could shed light on the details of a sex party with an underage girl that Gaetz allegedly attended.

The records include witness statements about a 2017 party that featured drugs, a 17-year-old sex trafficking victim, and, allegedly, Gaetz himself. Christopher Dorworth, who describes himself in a lawsuit as a “close friend” of Gaetz, has filed two motions requesting the records be withheld from release and “stricken from the judicial record,” court filings reviewed by Rolling Stone and American Doom show.

It’s now up to a federal court to decide whether to release the records. As attorney general, Gaetz would have significant influence over the federal judiciary. Trump nominated Gaetz for attorney general on Wednesday. 

“The public interest is not served in any way by releasing confidential information upon which the court has never relied to make any decision in this case,” attorneys for Dorworth wrote in an Oct. 16 filing. Furthermore, Dorworth “intends to request the exhibits be stricken from the judicial record entirely,” his attorneys wrote. 

The existence of records that could provide more detail into the alleged 2017 sex party comes as Gaetz gets ready to ascend to the highest-profile and most powerful role of his political career — U.S. attorney general. Some Republicans expressed concern at Gaetz’s nomination to oversee a Justice Department that was investigating the congressman over sex trafficking allegations until last winter. The DOJ declined to charge Gaetz, prompting the House Ethics Committee to investigate the matter. 

In nominating Gaetz, Trump said in a statement that the Florida congressman would address “weaponization” of the justice system, and would “root out the systemic corruption at DOJ, and return the Department to its true mission of fighting Crime, and upholding our Democracy and Constitution.”

Editor’s picks

For his part, Gaetz immediately resigned from his congressional seat on Wednesday evening, just ahead of an expected vote on whether to release a report by the House Ethics Committee into allegations against him, according to Punchbowl News. As such, the committee no longer has jurisdiction to investigate him. 

It’s unclear whether Gaetz will have any trouble being confirmed as attorney general in the Republican-led Senate. That might not matter either way: Trump has demanded that Republicans allow him to make recess appointments, without Senate approval. Newly-elected Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) posted on Sunday: “We must act quickly and decisively to get the president’s nominees in place as soon as possible, [and] all options are on the table to make that happen, including recess appointments.”

Gaetz’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The lawmaker has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing .

The unreleased records in the Florida case stem, in part, from a defamation lawsuit against Joel Greenberg, a friend of Gaetz’s who is now serving an 11-year sentence for his role in sex trafficking the victim, among other crimes. The Miami Herald has pushed for the records to be released.

One of the judges in the case, Daniel Irick, an Obama appointee, has chastised Dorworth for fighting their release.

“This is a case of public importance,” Irick said in August, according to NOTUS. “It is one that there may be media interest in, and it’s one that involves important issues … I’m not seeing any confidentialities that would really overwhelm the First Amendment right for the public to see this case, especially when a plaintiff brings claims in relation to their marriage and spouses and the kind of intimate issues in this case which are laid out in extreme detail in the … complaint. I am unlikely to seal anything because it all seems relevant.”

Related Content

It’s up to Irick and another judge, Carlos Mendoza, also appointed by Obama, to determine whether to release the records.

Dorworth sued Greenberg for implicating him in the events of the party and ties to the victim, referred to in court documents as “A.B.,” but has since dropped that lawsuit. Dorworth’s attorneys argue that 27 exhibits — which include depositions and affidavits from witnesses at the party —  should be kept under seal now that the lawsuit has been dismissed by Dorworth. 

“These 27 filings, irrelevant to this case, have been covered by the press due to their salacious

allegations, despite the nonexistence of any pertinent judicial purpose,” Dorworth’s attorneys wrote in an Oct. 3 filing supporting Greenberg’s motion to seal the records in question.

Neither judge had weighed in on the matter as of Oct. 22, according to court records. 

The 17-year-old victim in the case, referred to in court documents as “A.B.,” has placed Gaetz at the 2017 party. Greenberg admitted to having sex with A.B. when she was 17. Greenberg eventually penned a confession saying that Gaetz had paid him to arrange for sex with women, including at least one 17-year-old girl. Documents previously released as part of Dorworth’s lawsuit have placed Gaetz at the party thanks to testimony from his ex-girlfriend, NOTUS reported.

In his lawsuit, Dorworth, a former Ballard Partners lobbyist, claimed that Greenberg blackmailed him along with his “close friend,” Gaetz, in a failed attempt to extract a presidential pardon from then-President Trump. When Dorworth and Gaetz told Greenberg they were unable to help with his plight, Dorworth alleges Greenberg began to accuse the pair of wrongdoing.

According to the lawsuit, Gaetz instructed Dorworth to relay to Greenberg: “you’ve done some very bad things and have some very bad times ahead but there is nothing I can do to help you.”

While Greenberg was sentenced to prison for having sex with the victim and other crimes, Gaetz’s political star has continued to rise, despite the allegations that have been made against him.  

Discussion of Gaetz’s sexual escapades hasn’t just come from Greenberg. In October 2023, then-Rep. Markwayne Mullin (R-Ok.) accused Gaetz of bragging about sleeping with young women on the floor of the House of Representatives. 

“We had all seen videos … of the girls that he had slept with,” Mullin told CNN last year. “He’d crush ED [erectile dysfunction] medicine and chase it with an energy drink so he could go all night.” (On Wednesday, now-Sen. Mullin said he “completely” trusts Trump’s decision to nominate Gaetz.) 

Then, in April, former Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy accused Gaetz leading the successful push to oust him from his speaker role because he wouldn’t stop the Ethics Committee investigation. 

Gaetz “wanted me to stop an ethics complaint because he slept with a 17-year-old,” McCarthy said at an event at Georgetown University. 

“Now, did he do it or not? I don’t know. But ethics was looking at it,” McCarthy continued. “There’s other people in jail because of it. And he wanted me to influence it.”

Trending Stories

Gaetz responded by calling McCarthy a “liar.”

This story is being published in partnership with American Doom, a newsletter that focuses on right-wing extremism and other threats to democracy.