5 things to know about the Matt Gaetz drama Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz, a prominent conservative in Congress and a close ally of former President Trump, is being investigated as a part of a federal sex-trafficking inquiry involving a 17-year-old girl, according to people familiar with the case. The congressman alleges the investigation is part of an extortion scheme. He links it to an overture to his family from GOP Florida operatives seeking $25 million to fund the rescue of an FBI agent who disappeared in Iran more than a decade ago and is widely believed to be dead. Advertisement One of the operatives, Bob Kent, admitted in a radio interview this week that he told Gaetz’s father, former Florida Senate President Don Gaetz, that he was aware the congressman was facing legal troubles and that funding the rescue plot could help burnish Matt Gaetz’s reputation, but he said he had nothing to do with the investigation. Kent claims to have evidence that the FBI agent, Robert Levinson, is alive and being held hostage.