President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Justice Department, Matt Gaetz, paid two women for sex while he was a member of the House, the women's attorney told NBC News.

In an interview, Joel Leppard said one of the women told the House Ethics Committee investigating Gaetz that in 2017, in a small, invite-only party in Florida, she saw him having sex with her friend, who was 17 at the time. Leppard said his client testified that she did not think Gaetz knew the girl was a minor, he said, adding that Gaetz “stopped their sexual relationship” when he found out and “did not resume it until after she turned 18."

Representatives for Gaetz declined to answer detailed questions about Leppard's allegations but pointed NBC News toward a statement from Trump transition spokesman Alex Pfeiffer who called the allegations "baseless" and said they were meant to “derail the second Trump administration.”