Matt Gaetz ethics report finds 'substantial evidence' of statutory rape, prostitution
WASHINGTON ? The House Ethics Committee found "substantial evidence" former Rep. Matt Gaetz engaged in "prostitution, statutory rape, illicit drug use" and obstruction of Congress in a long-awaited report on alleged misconduct by President-elect Donald Trump’s original choice for the next U.S. attorney general, according to a report released Monday.
Gaetz made a last-minute futile effort in federal court to prevent the release of the committee's report into allegations that have dogged the Florida Republican for years. He has strenuously denied paying for sex with a minor, and a years-long Justice Department investigation ended without the filing of criminal charges.
“The record overwhelmingly suggests that Representative Gaetz had sex with multiple women" at a 2017 Florida party, "including the then-17-year-old, for which they were paid," the report said.
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"Victim A recalled receiving $400 in cash from Representative Gaetz that evening, which she understood to be payment for sex," the report said. "At the time, she had just completed her junior year of high school."
That witness told the committee she had not informed Gaetz she was younger than 18, "nor did he ask her age," the report said.
Gaetz was among speakers who addressed the conservative Turning Point AmericaFest 2024 in Phoenix on Sunday ahead of Trump. He didn't immediately respond to an email seeking comment. In a social media post on X, he said, "Giving funds to someone you are dating - that they didn’t ask for - and that isn’t “charged” for sex is now prostitution?!?"
"There is a reason they did this to me in a Christmas Eve-Eve report and not in a courtroom of any kind where I could present evidence and challenge witnesses," Gaetz wrote.
Sex, cocaine, illegal favors and a free Bahamas trip
In its 37-page report and four appendices, the committee disclosed numerous bombshell findings, all of them unproven allegations about Gaetz's behavior in the years before he resigned from Congress.
They include:
From at least 2017 to 2020, Gaetz "regularly" paid women for sex.
From 2017 to 2019, Gaetz "used or possessed illegal drugs, including cocaine and ecstasy, on multiple occasions."
Gaetz "accepted gifts, including transportation and lodging in connection with a 2018 trip to the Bahamas, in excess of permissible amounts."
In 2018, Gaetz had his chief of staff help a sexual partner obtain a passport, "falsely indicating to the U.S. Department of State that she was a constituent."
Gaetz "knowingly and willfully sought to impede and obstruct the Committee's investigation of his conduct."
Gaetz: Report is 'unprecedented overreach'
In a post on X, Gaetz last week said he had sent money to girlfriends and women he dated, “even some I never dated but who asked,” and acknowledged he "probably partied, womanized, drank and smoked more than I should have" when he was younger.
But, he insisted, “I NEVER had sexual contact with someone under 18. Any claim that I have would be destroyed in court ? which is why no such claim was ever made in court."
On Monday morning, he asked a federal judge in Washington, D.C., to stop the Ethics Committee from releasing the report.
He accused the Ethics Committee of "unprecedented overreach that threatens fundamental constitutional rights and established procedural protections."
Read the Gaetz report
A secret turnabout
The bipartisan committee voted in secret earlier this month to release the report over the objections of some Republicans.
The vote was an about-face for the committee, which had declined to release the report in November. Gaetz resigned shortly after Trump nominated him for Attorney General.
Trump had called Gaetz “a deeply gifted and tenacious attorney" who had "distinguished himself in Congress through his focus on achieving desperately needed reform at the Department of Justice.”
The 10-member Ethics Committee is equally divided between Republicans and Democrats and meets behind closed doors.
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Committee members previously had voted along party lines not to release their findings, which were based on a nearly four-year investigation.
House Democrats pushed to release the report in November, even after Gaetz resigned from Congress and bowed out of consideration to be Trump’s attorney general.
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Republicans had insisted the report should remain confidential because Gaetz was no longer in Congress. It was not known which Republicans changed their vote in order to allow the report to be made public.
A vote on the House floor to force the release of the report also failed when virtually all GOP lawmakers voted against it. A particularly vocal opponent was Johnson Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., who said publishing the report would set a "terrible precedent."
Ethics reports have been released previously after a member’s resignation but only rarely.
Reports of sex parties and payments
The Justice Department previously investigated Gaetz for potential sex trafficking but closed the inquiry without charges, his lawyers told USA TODAY in February 2023.
Gaetz said in his Wednesday post on X that he had been fully exonerated, though federal authorities have never explicitly said that.
The Committee said evidence showed Gaetz sometimes paid women who attended parties with him and Joel Greenberg, a close friend who was later convicted of underage sex trafficking, wire fraud, and other crimes.
Greenberg "sometimes paid women for having sex with Representative Gaetz and was sometimes reimbursed by Representative Gaetz," the report said. "Witnesses indicated that there were times where a lump sum would be sent to one woman, who would then distribute the money evenly among others who attended the parties."
(This story has been updated with new information.)
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Gaetz ethics report finds 'substantial evidence' of statutory rape