Report: House Ethics document includes evidence Matt Gaetz had sex with 17-year-old at Florida party

A House Ethics Committee investigation found evidence former U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz paid for sex with a 17-year-old in 2017.

A leaked draft of an unreleased report on the former Congressman details that and other instances of the Fort Walton Beach Republican paying for sex or drugs, according to CNN, which said it obtained the final draft of committee findings.

“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,” the draft report says, according to the news network.

Gaetz pointed Florida Politics to multiple publicly available depositions of witnesses that undermine assertions that he ever paid women for sex.

“Giving funds to someone you are dating — that they didn’t ask for — and that isn’t ‘charged’ for sex is now prostitution?!?” he posted on X. “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.”

The Ethics Committee has not widely published the draft, but may do so soon. The panel appeared to be on the verge of releasing the report just before Gaetz abruptly resigned his House seat in November. Last week, CNN reported that members had voted to release the report near the end of the current congressional term. The same news outlet appears to have a copy of that report in hand.

Gaetz quit after President-elect Donald Trump nominated him for Attorney General, but Gaetz ultimately withdrew from consideration as Senate Republicans sought information on the allegations.

The report appears to include many allegations already otherwise made public about Gaetz. It includes testimony from one woman who said she had sex with Gaetz on a 2018 trip to the Bahamas. One woman also told Ethics Committee investigators that she saw Gaetz consume ecstasy on the trip.

The document appears to recount allegations also made public in legal filings in a civil case. That includes accusations from a woman who claimed she attended a sex party in July 2017 with several prominent political figures, including Gaetz. The woman said she was 17 at the time and had sex with Gaetz at the party twice.

Gaetz pointed at statements included in court documents that call into question whether he ever paid women for sex.

“This is testimony from one of the alleged ‘prostitutes’ that you won’t see in the report!” he posted while sharing a screenshot of witness statements.

A woman told attorneys, “I never charged anyone anything. Like I said, it was just given.” In another screenshot, a woman says, “There was a lot of times where I did not get paid for being there. In that time, I thought a lot of people were my friends.” Other screenshots show women objected to the term “trafficking” and that even when Gaetz gave hundreds of dollars to women, no sort of exchange of services was discussed.

“This is clearly not prostitution under any conceivable definition,” Gaetz posted. “Which is why I was never charged with a crime!”

The accusations were first made in filings by attorneys for former Seminole County Tax Collector Joel Greenberg, who is serving an 11-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to six crimes, including sex trafficking of a 17-year-old girl, identity theft, stalking, wire fraud and conspiracy to bribe a public official. Allies of Gaetz have called Greenberg’s credibility into question.

Gaetz has repeatedly denied criminal wrongdoing while acknowledging a past of “embarrassing” behavior. He has noted the Justice Department conducted its own investigation of accusations he trafficked a minor for sex and decided last year not to pursue any charges.

“The very ‘witnesses’ DOJ deemed not-credible were assembled by House Ethics to repeat their claims absent any cross-examination or challenge from me or my attorneys,” Gaetz wrote in an extensive X post last week. “I’ve had no chance to ever confront any accusers. I’ve never been charged. I’ve never been sued.”

The draft committee report acknowledges that investigators did not find evidence Gaetz violated federal laws.

“Although Representative Gaetz did cause the transportation of women across state lines for purposes of commercial sex, the Committee did not find evidence that any of those women were under 18 at the time of travel, nor did the Committee find sufficient evidence to conclude that the commercial sex acts were induced by force, fraud, or coercion,” the report reads, according to CNN.

But the committee report asserts that Gaetz on multiple instances violated state laws. The allegations were based on interviews with several subjects, including multiple women who said they had sex with Gaetz and were paid by, or on behalf of, the Congressman.

One America News just announced Gaetz will host a new talk show on the network’s prime-time lineup.