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Matt Gaetz, Donald Trump's former chief of staff, has been accused by law enforcement of sleeping with an underage girl, paying women for sex and using illegal drugs in an explosive report published Monday.
The House ethics committee found “substantial evidence” that the former Republican lawmaker not only violated Congressional laws, but also state and federal laws.
“The committee has determined that there is substantial evidence that Representative Gaetz violated House Rules and other standards of conduct that prohibit prostitution, statutory rape, illegal drug use, illegal gifts, special gifts or privileges, and interference with Congress,” The panel concluded.
Gaetz, a fierce Trump ally who has been considered a possible Florida governor and Senate candidate, has denied any wrongdoing, either. posted on X that he was not charged after a previous investigation into sexual misconduct by the Department of Justice.
Last week he wrote: “I was accused of nothing: I WAS COMPLETELY ATTACKED. No campaign finance violations. The people who were investigating me hated me. . . I have NEVER had sex with anyone under the age of 18.
“It is shameful, although not a crime, that I probably went to parties, became women, drank and smoked more than I should have done earlier in life. I live a different life now.”
The 42-year-old was chosen by president-elect Trump to be his attorney general in mid-November despite his limited legal experience, sending shockwaves through Washington.
Just a few days later Gaetz withdrew his name from consideration, saying his choice “unduly interfered with the important work of the Trump/Vance transition”, referring to the choice of the president's vice-presidential nominee, JD Vance.
Trump later picked former Florida attorney general Pam Bondi to replace Gaetz.
In its report, the committee alleged that between 2017 and 2020, Gaetz made payments to women worth tens of thousands of dollars “likely to be related to sex and/or drug use”.
In another incident, Gaetz in 2017 allegedly paid a 17-year-old for sex at a party, with his understanding of the transaction. The committee wrote that she had just finished her junior year of high school and was under the influence of euphoria at the time of having sex with Gaetz. There was no evidence that the ex-lawyer knew he was underage, it added.
A year later, Gaetz reportedly joined a trip to the Bahamas with two other men and six women – a gift “in excess of the allowable funds”, the report said.
The former Congressman is alleged to have had sex with at least four women. While no one received special payments for the trip, one woman told the committee that “the trip itself is a payment”.
All the women interviewed by the committee said their sexual encounters with Gaetz were consensual. But one said drug use may have “damaged (them) the ability to really know what was going on or fully acknowledge it”, while another said: “(W)hen I look back at times, I feel raped.”
The report says witnesses saw Gaetz consuming marijuana, cocaine and high spirits.
In 2018, the former representative allegedly arranged for his chief of staff to help the woman he was sleeping with get a passport, falsely declaring to the State Department that he was part of an organization. The chief of staff has been asked to comment.
Some of Trump's allies rallied behind the former congressman after the report. “Matt Gaetz must return to Congress as a triumphant hero on the shoulders of the people,” former president-elect Steve Bannon wrote in X.