The House Ethics Committee on Monday accused Matt Gaetz of “regularly” paying women, including a 17-year-old girl, for sex and buying and using illegal drugs throughout the time the Florida Republican was a member of Congress.
The 37-page report by the bipartisan panel details sex-filled parties and vacations that Gaetz, now 42, attended while representing Florida's panhandle. The findings show that while in office, he violated multiple state laws related to sexual misconduct.
“The Committee found that there was substantial evidence that Representative Gaetz violated the House Rules and other standards of conduct prohibiting prostitution, statutory rape, the use of illegal drugs, impermissible gifts, special favors and privileges, and obstruction of Congress,” the report said.
The report ends a nearly five-year investigation into Gaetz. Its release comes after at least one Republican joined all five Democrats on the panel earlier this month in a secret ballot to release the report on their former colleague, despite initial opposition from GOP lawmakers, including House Speaker Mike. and Johnson, regarding the publication of findings about the former member of Congress.
A report by the U.S. House of Representatives Ethics Committee found that former Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz violated “House Rules and other standards of conduct prohibiting prostitution, statutory rape, illegal drug use, impermissible gifts, special favors or privileges, and obstruction of Congress.” reports from CBS and CNN, which claim to have received the final version of the investigative report.
While ethics reports have been published before after a member resigns, this is extremely rare. Gaetz has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, saying last week that as a former House member he would have “no opportunity to debate or overturn” the findings.
On Monday, Gaetz filed a lawsuit seeking to block the report's publication, claiming it contains “false and defamatory information” that would “significantly harm” his “standing and reputation in the community.” Gaetz's complaint says he is no longer under the committee's jurisdiction since he resigned from Congress.
“The Commission's position that it can nonetheless publish potentially defamatory findings relating to a private citizen over whom it does not claim jurisdiction constitutes an unprecedented expansion of Congress's authority that threatens fundamental constitutional rights and established procedural protections,” Gaetz's lawyers wrote in the request for an interim restriction of freedom order.
Claims processed from 2021
The often secretive, bipartisan panel has been investigating the claims against Gaetz since 2021. But its work took on greater urgency last month when President-elect Donald Trump selected Gaetz as his nominee for attorney general. Gaetz resigned from Congress the same day, putting him outside the Ethics Committee's jurisdiction.
But Democrats insisted on making the report public even after Gaetz was no longer a member and withdrew because of Trump's choice to lead the Justice Department. A vote in the House this month to force the report's release failed; all but one Republican voted against it.
Earlier, CNN, which said it obtained a copy of the report ahead of its publication, said the panel examined transactions Gaetz personally made, often through PayPal or Venmo, for more than a dozen women during his time in Congress.
The report found that Gaetz paid more than $90,000 to 12 different women, and the payments that the ethics panel found were likely related to sexual activity and drug use, CBS reports. who also stated that she received a copy of the report before its publication.
The panel heard he had sex with a 17-year-old girl twice
The ethics committee received testimony that Gaetz had sex twice with a 17-year-old girl, described in the report as “Victim A,” at a party in 2017, CBS reported.
“Victim A remembers receiving $400 in cash from Rep. Gaetz that evening, which she believed was payment for sex,” CBS quoted the report as saying. “Victim A stated that she did not inform Representative Gaetz that she was under 18 years of age at the time, nor did he inquire about her age.”
The ethics committee found there was insufficient evidence that the three-term congressman violated the federal sex trafficking statute, CBS reported.
According to CBS, all the women who testified said their sexual encounters with Gaetz were consensual.
Former U.S. Congressman Matt Gaetz has withdrawn his name from serving as President-elect Donald Trump's attorney general, saying his confirmation is becoming a distraction.
However, one of the women told the commission that drug use at parties and events they attended may have “impaired (impaired) their ability to truly know what was going on or to fully consent.”
Another woman told the commission: “When I look back on certain moments, I feel violated.”
The report found that Gaetz violated House rules and other standards of conduct prohibiting prostitution, statutory rape and drug use, CBS reported.
According to CBS, they also found “substantial evidence” that Gaetz had used illegal drugs. CBS accused him of accepting gifts of luxury travel beyond allowable limits during a trip to the Bahamas in 2018, CBS added.