The US House of Representatives Ethics Committee has found that former Florida congressman Matt Gaetz paid tens of thousands of dollars to women for drugs and sex, including with a 17-year-old girl, US media reported on Monday, citing a final Draft Panel Report.
Gaetz, who has denied wrongdoing, resigned from the House of Representatives last month after being chosen as attorney general by President-elect Donald Trump. Facing an uphill battle for confirmation in the Senate, he withdrew from consideration.
To prevent the report’s expected release on Monday, Gaetz filed a lawsuit against the ethics board
The damage to his reputation and professional standing would be “serious and irreversible.”
Denied any wrongdoing
The panel examined transactions Gaetz made personally, often through PayPal or Venmo, with more than a dozen women during his time in Congress, CNN reported.
A report from the U.S. House Ethics Committee found that former Florida congressman Matt Gaetz violated “House rules and other standards of conduct prohibiting prostitution, statutory rape, illegal drug use, improper gifts, special favors or privileges, and the “Prohibit obstruction of Congress,” according to a report reporting by CBS and CNN, which say they have received a final draft of the investigative report.
“The Committee concluded that there is substantial evidence that Representative Gaetz violated House rules and other standards of conduct that prohibit prostitution, statutory rape, illegal drug use, improper gifts, special favors or privileges, and obstruction of Congress.” , the panel’s investigators wrote, according to CNN.
The report found that Gaetz paid more than $90,000 to 12 different women. The ethics panel found the payments were likely related to sexual activity and drug use, CBS reported.
The ethics panel received testimony that Gaetz had sex twice at a party in 2017 with a 17-year-old girl, described in the report as “Victim A,” CBS reported.
“Victim A recalled receiving $400 in cash from Representative Gaetz that evening, which she viewed as payment for sex,” CBS quoted the report as saying. “Victim A said that she did not inform Representative Gaetz that she was under 18 at the time, nor did he inquire about her age.”
Gaetz was the subject of a three-year FBI investigation into sex trafficking allegations that resulted in no criminal charges.
The ethics panel said there was insufficient evidence that the three-term congressman violated federal sex trafficking law, CBS reported.
According to CBS, all of the women who testified said the sexual encounters with Gaetz were consensual.
Former US congressman Matt Gaetz has withdrawn his name from consideration to become President-elect Donald Trump’s attorney general, saying his confirmation would become a distraction.
However, one woman told the committee that drug use at the parties and events they attended may have “impaired their ability to truly know what was going on or to fully consent.”
Another woman told the committee: “When I look back on certain moments, I feel hurt.”
The report found that Gaetz violated house rules and other standards of conduct that prohibit prostitution, statutory rape and drug use, CBS reported.
“Substantial evidence”
According to CBS, “significant evidence” was also found that Gaetz was involved in illegal drug use. He was accused of accepting luxury travel gifts that exceeded allowable limits during a trip to the Bahamas in 2018, CBS added.
In a statement Gaetz released last week to CNN on X reported Since the committee voted to release the report, Gaetz denied having sex with minors or paying women for sex.
“When I was single, I often sent money to women I dated – even some I never dated but who asked for it. I dated several of these women for years,” Gaetz said. “It’s embarrassing, but not criminal, that I probably partied, womanized, drank and smoked more than I should have earlier in life. I live a different life now.”
