Mr. Kent said he met with Don Gaetz, a former Florida politician on March 17, he told him he was aware of his son’s “legal issues” and helping to rescue Levinson would “generate goodwill.”
Mr. Gaetz is currently under investigation by the Justice Department for an alleged sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl and violating federal sex trafficking laws.
He has vehemently denied the allegations and has not been charged with a crime.
Mr. Kent maintained that he asked for the money as a way to generate good publicity for the congressman, and it was not a shakedown. At the time of the meeting with Don Gaetz, the charges against the congressman were not publicly known.
‘There were no threats’: ex-Air Force officer denies $25M extortion plot against Gaetz Dave Goldiner
An ex-intelligence officer accused by GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz of engineering a $25 million extortion plot says he was only trying to give the Florida lawmaker a chance to burnish his image amid allegations of sex trafficking.
Bob Kent, a former Air Force intelligence officer, said in a CNN interview Monday night that he had no ulterior motive when he offered Gaetz and his father the opportunity to fund an effort to find an ex-FBI agent who disappeared in Iran.
“Matt Gaetz was in need . of some goodwill from the government. I’m in need of a sponsor to fund the rescue project,” Kent told CNN.
One of the men he accused in the plot, Bob Kent, denied the accusations on Monday.
Kent said he wasn t trying to extort the Gaetzes but wanted a loan to help free a missing American.
Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida has said that the accusations surrounding his Justice Department sex-trafficking investigation were false smears used in an extortion attempt.
Now, one of the men whom Gaetz accused of extortion, the former Air Force intelligence officer Bob Kent, is denying the claim, saying he was trying to ask Gaetz s father for money to help free an American in Iran.
In interviews with CNN s Chris Cuomo and SiriusXM personality Michael Smerconish on Monday, Kent said he was not responsible for Gaetz coming under scrutiny in the first place and said he had nothing to do with the sex-trafficking investigation.
April 6, 2021 10:08 a.m.
A self-styled operative who plays a prominent role in Rep. Matt Gaetz’s (R-FL) claims he is being extorted told CNN on Monday that the congressman was using the situation to distract from his sex trafficking investigation.
Bob Kent, a retired Air Force captain who has reportedly devoted the past few years of his life to the hunt for missing FBI agent Robert Levinson in Iran, told CNN that he had not contacted the Gaetz family out of any nefarious motive.
He added that Gaetz was “trying to direct attention from himself” because of the sex trafficking probe, which is reportedly examining Gaetz’s finances and his alleged sexual relationship with a 17-year old.