Matt Gaetz opposed revenge porn law because he thought pictures were ‘his to use as he wanted’ says former lawmaker

• Rep. Matt Gaetz reportedly opposed a bill designed to outlaw “revenge porn” while he was a member of the Florida legislature.
• Former State Rep. Tom Goodson said Gaetz “thought that any picture was his to use as he wanted to.”
• Gaetz is said to have shown fellow lawmakers nude photos and videos of women he had slept with, CNN reported.
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Rep. Matt Gaetz, the Florida lawmaker who is reportedly being investigated for sex crimes, opposed a bill designed to outlaw “revenge porn” while he was a member of the Florida legislature, the Orlando Sentinel reported.

Former State Rep. Tom Goodson, a Republican, told the Orlando Sentinel that Gaetz had been the main opponent to legislation which he spent three years trying to introduce which would have outlawed people from sharing sexually explicit images of former lovers with other people.

Gaetz served in the House of Representatives since 2016 and from 2010 to 2016 served in the Florida House of Representatives.

“Matt was absolutely against it,” Goodson told the Orlando Sentinel. “He thought the picture was his to do with what he wanted. He thought that any picture was his to use as he wanted to, as an expression of his rights.”

The bill, which outlawed people posting images of their former lovers online without their consent, eventually passed in 2015. Gaetz was one of only two people to vote against the bill, the Orlando Sentinel reported.

Gaetz, a vocal defender of former President Donald Trump, is facing intense scrutiny over his past behaviour after The New York Times reported last week that he is under investigation for federal sex crimes, with investigators examining whether he had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old and violated sex-trafficking laws. He has not been charged in relation to the investigation.

A subsequent report from CNN said that Rep. Gaetz had shown fellow lawmakers nude photos and videos of women he had slept with as he bragged about his sexual exploits, including when he was on the House floor.

Sources including two people who had been shown the material said that Gaetz had displayed the photos and videos of the women on his phone, including one which showed a naked woman dancing with a hula hoop.

CNN said there was no evidence the pictures are connected to the Justice Department’s reported investigation into Gaetz.

Insider contacted a representative of Gaetz for comment but did not receive a response at the time of publication. Gaetz previously said that he had not had sexual relations with an underage girl and claimed he was the victim of an extortion plot.