Jacob Ogles
A House Ethics Committee investigation found evidence former U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz paid for sex with a 17-year-old in 2017.
Days before Christmas, the Ethics Committee released a full 42-page report following a yearslong investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct and drug use by the Fort Walton Beach Republican.
“There is substantial evidence that Representative Gaetz paid women for sex, and had others pay women for sex on his behalf,” the report states.
Findings of the report were first released by CNN.
“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 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 members had voted to release the report near the end of the current congressional term.
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 Ethics Committee report said accepting the trip to the Bahamas was itself a violation of rules prohibiting. While Gaetz said he had evidence to show he did not wrongly accept gifts on the trip, the committee said those receipts in fact showed he paid for many related expenses, but that he never provided an explanation as to how he paid for the trip itself.
“The flight, lodging, meal and ‘entertainment’ expenses on the Bahamas trip that were incurred but not paid by Representative Gaetz were well in excess of the personal friendship threshold,” the report stated.
The document recounts 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.
The committee said the encounters would clearly violate Florida’s statutory rape laws, as he was 35 at the time of the sex party.
“Representative Gaetz denied the allegation but refused to testify under oath. He has publicly stated that Victim A (the 17-year-old) ‘doesn’t exist’ and that he has not ‘had sex with a 17-year-old since I was 17.’ The Committee found that to be untrue,” the report reads.
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.
The committee report also details repeated drug use of illegal substances.
“At least two women saw Representative Gaetz using cocaine and ecstasy at different events,” the report states. “Even more women understood him to regularly be using ecstasy. There is also ample evidence that Representative Gaetz purchased and used marijuana; he appears to have set up a pseudonymous e-mail account from his House office in the Capitol complex for the purpose of purchasing marijuana.”
Gaetz denied to the committee in writing that he used illegal drugs. The report notes a congressional code of ethics requires disclosure of drug use in the past seven years.
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 committee report acknowledges that investigators did not find evidence Gaetz violated federal laws. It also acknowledges issues with Greenberg’s credibility but said other testimony backs up the account.
“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.
Of note, the House after Gaetz’s resignation from Congress initially opted against releasing its findings, and Speaker Mike Johnson in November opposed releasing an investigation of someone who longer served in the House.
A memo from Ethics Committee Chair Michael Guest, a Mississippi Republican, was released with the report on behalf of those Committee members who did not believe the report should become public. Guest stood by the committee’s findings but said releasing the report no longer served a public interest with Gaetz out of office.
“Representative Gaetz resigned from Congress, withdrew from consideration to serve in the next administration, and declared that he would not seek to be seated in the 119th Congress,” Guest wrote. “The decision to publish a report after his resignation breaks from the Committee’s long-standing practice, opens the Committee to undue criticism, and will be viewed by some as an attempt to weaponize the Committee’s process.”
22 comments
Linwood Wright
December 23, 2024 at 9:45 am
And most Republicans will be fine with this. They’d rather vote for a Pedophile than a Democrat. That’s how morally bankrupt they are. And it explains why they were so eager to vote for a rapist and a convicted felon for President.
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ScienceBLVR
December 23, 2024 at 9:58 am
Sing it boys,
I’m a loser
I’m a loser
And I’m not what I appear to be
Of all the love I have won or have lost
There is one love I should never have crossed
She was a girl in a million, my friend
I should have known she would win in the end
I’m a loser
And I’m not what I appear to be
Although I laugh and I act like a clown
Beneath this mask I am wearing a frown
My tears are falling like rain from the sky
Is it for her or myself that I cry?
A Day Without MAGA LaMigra
December 23, 2024 at 10:05 am
Where is Ashley Moody at,she should bring child molesting charges against Gaetz
Linwood Wright
December 23, 2024 at 12:27 pm
She’s a Republican. She supports pedophilia like most of them do. Remember, there is overwhelming evidence that Trump raped a teenager and they still voted for him.
KathrynA
December 23, 2024 at 10:11 am
Yes, Ashley, time to do your job! The investigation is complete and evidence is in!!
The Cat In The MAGA Hat
December 23, 2024 at 12:32 pm
Impanel a grand jury Moody
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Michael K
December 23, 2024 at 10:31 am
Now we know why Trump considered Gaetz supremely qualified to be the next Attorney General of the United States. Only the best people!
JD
December 23, 2024 at 10:31 am
Deny, Deny, Deny on being a criminal, but admits embarassing behavior?
Tell us again about how Drag Queens reading to kids is bad, but this PEDOPHILE is ok? F@cking hypocrital liars.
Tom
December 23, 2024 at 1:47 pm
Unless drag queens break into schools and start beating kids to death with copies of To Kill a Mockingbird, pedo’s like Gaetz are the problem and given Rhonda’s very vocal stance on human trafficking and grooming, I would expect a grand jury to be impaneled immediately. Only kidding. The GOP will tolerate pretty much anything up to and including the likes of Kay Granger. It’s going to be a long four years.
Ocean Joe
December 23, 2024 at 3:53 pm
Some might say our Joe Biden or Diane Feinstein is the equivalent of Kay Granger, but I can’t think of any Democrat that rivals the douchebaggery of Mr. Gaetz. Which makes him a GOP superstar. Am sure Trump knew of his antics and admired him for it.
Tom
December 24, 2024 at 7:57 am
Gatez is paying the price for torpedoing McCarthy’s speaker-ship methinks. The house is like a nest of vipers with long memories. This may help going forward though – some folks might be a little less inclined to put trump before party because I’m pretty sure they all have skeletons in their closets.
EARL PITTS AMERICAN
December 23, 2024 at 5:03 pm
Good evening America,
This was the party set up by Nikki Fried and the owner(s) of Truleive back in July of 2017 that I already referenced in a previous post of “Sage Wisdom. There is/was enough “Wrongness” to go around involving both Highly Placed Democrats and Republicans in this Un-Wise Weed & Sex Plan to get Republican Backers to make Recreational Weed Legalized in Florida.
The goal was to force those in attendance (many Republicans) to invest in their Weed stock with a little under-aged sex to “Seal The Deal” or “Get Outed”. Likely had something to do with Epsteins unfortanate demise in that NYC jail too.
HOWEVER:
The little “HOOK” nobody wants to talk about is the people behind the party used Jeffery Epstien’s female minors as a ploy to “Seal The Deal” in order to impliment their “Nefarious Scheme” to get weed legalized in Florida.
EARL DUMBS IT DOWN:
“I’m sorry but you have to support our Legal Recrational Weed Initative or else”….and thats all Earl is gonna say about this subject.
EARL PITTS AMERICAN
Sqoo
December 23, 2024 at 5:22 pm
Nothing here that every member of the Florida House and Florida Senate hasn’t known for years. Good ole boys protecting good ole boys always and forever.
EARL PITTS AMERICAN
December 23, 2024 at 6:55 pm
BREAKING NEWS AMERICA,
Its been reported that Biden “Accidently” pardoned Matt Gaetz.
Now that adds a wrinkle to the current “Dook 4 Brains Leftist Position”.
Thank you America,
EARL PITTS AMERICAN
Sqoo
December 24, 2024 at 3:12 am
THABK YOU EARL PITTS AMERICAN YOU ARE VRY SMART
EARL PITTS AMERICAN
December 24, 2024 at 3:30 am
Thank you, Sqoo, for paying homage to my Sage and Superior Wisdom as being “Top Tier’ amoungst all political prognostigators on the planet.
Be sure to follow me, EARL PITTS AMERICAN, for more political wisdom to make you The Super Star at all Fancy Parties and have beautiful women at your beck and call.
IN CLOSING:
Keep up the great work, Sqoo, thanks for your Trump vote,
EARL PITTS AMERICAN
EARL PITTS AMERICAN
December 26, 2024 at 7:17 am
Thank you my “Sage Patriot Besty” Sqoo, for your love and feilty to America’s A#1, Top Of The Walk, Bestest Ever, Most Trusted Political Prognastigator On The Planet! [AKA EARL PITTS AMERICAN]
BTY, Sqoo, I’m looking for a replacement for my former Wing-Man, Rick Whittaker.
As everyone knows Rick had a mental break-down after his fondest dream of a Kamalla “DOOK 4 BRAINS” POTUS TERM was dashed against the rocks of reality. Your command and compisition of The American [English] in written format is far superior when compared to my old employee, Rick … plus your name, Sqoo is very catchy.
HOWEVER:
I will likely need to have you change your name to Squidward to honor the most beloved character from that SquarePants hit TV Show. You can start your new job with me, EARL PITTS AMERICAN, right after New Years!!!!
Thanks and Congragulations for replaceing that un-reliable”Quitter”, Rick Whittaker, Beloved Sqoo,
Your new Boss, EARL PITTS AMERICAN
John knowles
December 23, 2024 at 8:25 pm
It just shows how stupid Maga Republicans are that they would vote for a pedophile with a republican stripe who is completely immoral and devoid of morals and religious values. It really values Trump as a president and the Republican movement of today. It’s definitely not the Reagan Republican era. It’s the error of fake Christians who support the R versus the D. They are shameful and I’m just ashamed that America could stoop to such lows of voting for Trump and reelecting Matt Gaets. You should all be ashamed, but I know you won’t.
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Comments are closed.