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Doesn't really matter, at least not morally and probably not legally.
If you pay for sex you're a sleazeball. If you pay someone who says they just turned 18 you're a moron. In addition to being a pedophile.
Do you mind giving a little more feedback on why you feel that way?
Taken at face value, as stated, it sounds like you're 100% against prostitution and making a value judgement against people who hire sex workers.
Keep in mind, I have never paid for sex, and I'm not coming at you because of your opinion. Just curious, is all, since I'm more of the opinion that what consenting adults do in their own privacy is their own business as long as it's not hurting anybody. And I do understand that a lot of times, sex workers are being exploited. But then I also think about situations like the disabled guy (IIRC it was something terminal) who hired sex workers because he felt he couldn't/wouldn't find a willing partner otherwise due to the circumstances of his disability. Plus, I'm a bit biased, as I lived with a sex worker as a roommate for a couple of years, and while nobody's perfect, he was a much nicer and better person that a lot of random folks I know.
I have pretty strong judgements of lots of things that I think should be legal despite how I feel. I despise gambling, I hate cosmetic surgery, I'd never get a tattoo, I don't even like perfume, glitter... you get the idea. I'm not saying that you're a criminal for buying a lottery ticket, but I'm totally gonna judge you an immoral moron in my mind.
I can certainly understand the argument that prostitution should be legal in order to protect sex workers. I'm not sure if that's the best policy, but I can see where it's coming from.
I do not believe that sex workers are categorically bad people, neither do I believe that people who hire sex workers are beyond redemption. I still find it disgusting and I don't think it should be normalized.
However, to clarify: in this case we're talking about a powerful person seeking out a young girl to have sex with. He pays for sex. He does not in any way verify age. I think it's safe to say that he doesn't give a shit about the well-being of this person, and if it was legal to have sex with a younger girl he would have done that openly. No internal moral compass whatsoever, just the narcissistic playbook of how he's perceived by others. His followers are only backtracking because he got caught.