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AVALON (CNS) - Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida eloped to Catalina Island and married his girlfriend, Ginger Luckey, he tweeted today.
The 39-year-old Republican, who is under investigation as part of a sex trafficking probe, declared his Saturday nuptials on Twitter, saying, "I love my wife!" It featured a photo of the couple -- she is pictured in a white dress, while he dons a sport coat.
Sergio Gor, a former staffer for Sen. Rand Paul, performed the ceremony in front of an estimated crowd of 40 people, according to Vanity Fair.
The couple had previously announced they would marry next year.
On Thursday, Gaetz was rallying in Iowa with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, part of a national tour in which they make false claims about the 2020 election and downplay the COVID-19 pandemic. The pair visited Riverside earlier this summer and spoke outdoors after multiple venues in Orange and Riverside counties canceled their scheduled events. Last month, Gaetz spoke at a downtown Los Angeles rally to end the conservatorship of Britney Spears.
Gaetz is under investigation as part of a probe that led to the arrest and plea deal of his close friend, Joel Greenberg, a former Seminole Count, Florida, tax collector. Greenberg pleaded guilty last May to six federal crimes, including sex trafficking of a child, identity theft, stalking, wire fraud and conspiracy to bribe a public official. His plea agreement with prosecutors requires continued cooperation with an ongoing probe into sextrafficking.
Luckey, 26, is a Southern Californian who met Gaetz at a Mar-a-Lago fundraiser event, she told the Daily Mail.