The Republican Florida congressman Matt Gaetz eloped to southern California on Saturday, in order to marry Ginger Luckey in a small ceremony on Catalina Island. The couple had said they would marry next year. Gaetz, 39, is under investigation as part of proceedings that led to the arrest of a close friend, Joel Greenberg, a former tax collector in Seminole county, Florida. Greenberg pleaded guilty in 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 investigation into sex trafficking. Gaetz was not mentioned in Greenberg’s plea agreement. But Greenberg’s cooperation could play a role in an ongoing investigation into Gaetz’s alleged pay-for-sex relationship with a 17-year-old girl. He has repeatedly denied wrongdoing. Gaetz announced his wedding on his personal Twitter page, writing “I love my wife!” along with a photo, he in a sport coat, she in a white dress. Vanity Fair reported that Sergio Gor, a former staffer for Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, performed a ceremony attended by about 40 people. Luckey, 26, is from southern California and works for a company that focuses on extending the life of products made from plant-based materials. Gaetz was in Iowa on Thursday with the Georgia representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, as part of a national tour in which they falsely claim the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump and downplay the Covid-19 pandemic.