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 report stated that Gaetz made a last-minute payment to a 17-year-old girl at a 2017 Florida party, where she was paid $400 in cash for sex. The witness told the committee she had not informed Gaetz she was younger than 18, nor did he ask her age.
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, 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?!?”
The committee’s 37-page report and four appendices 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 has denied the allegations and claimed that he was fully exonerated by the Justice Department investigation. He has also claimed that he never had sexual contact with someone under 18 and that any claims of such would be destroyed in court.