On Monday, the House Ethics Committee released its report into former Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz that found “substantial evidence” that Gaetz paid women for sex and engaged in sexual activity with a minor. The House Ethics Committee voted in secret earlier this month to release its findings into the conduct of Gaetz after it first decided to keep it under wraps.
Gaetz, who was President-elect Donald Trump’s first nominee for attorney general, was found by congressional ethics investigators to have paid numerous women — including a 17-year-old girl — for sex, and to have purchased and used illegal drugs, including from his Capitol Hill office.
Among the findings in the 37-page report (seen in full HERE) showed that Gaetz violated multiple state laws related to sexual misconduct while in office. The report lists payments to 12 different women totaling more than $90,000, noting that “from 2017 to 2020, Representative Gaetz made tens of thousands of dollars in payments to women that the Committee determined were likely in connection with sexual activity and/or drug use.” In addition, the committee found “substantial evidence” that Gaetz violated Florida’s statutory rape law by having sex with a 17-year-old girl in July 2017 when he was 35.
The report stated: “The Committee determined there is substantial evidence that Representative Gaetz violated House Rules and other standards of conduct prohibiting prostitution, statutory rape, illicit drug use, impermissible gifts, special favors or privileges, and obstruction of Congress.”
Gaetz, who has publicly denied the allegations included in the report, said filed a civil lawsuit Monday in a Washington federal court in a failed last-ditch effort to block the report’s release, saying that he is now a private citizen and not subject to the jurisdiction of the committee. However, the committee released it a short time later.
Gaetz resigned his seat in Congress in November, after Trump announced plans to nominate him for attorney general. But after facing opposition from some fellow Republicans, Gaetz withdrew from consideration a week later.
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