The bipartisan House Ethics Committee released its much-anticipated report on ex-congressman Matt Gaetz on Dec. 23, despite his filing of a federal lawsuit to prevent its release, revealing scathing new details, such as:
- From at least 2017 to 2020, Representative Gaetz regularly paid women for engaging in sexual activity with him.
- In 2017, Representative Gaetz engaged in sexual activity with a 17-year-old girl.
- During the period 2017 to 2019, Representative Gaetz used or possessed illegal drugs, including cocaine and ecstasy, on multiple occasions.
- Representative Gaetz accepted gifts, including transportation and lodging in connection with a 2018 trip to the Bahamas, in excess of permissible amounts.
- In 2018, Representative Gaetz arranged for his Chief of Staff to assist a woman with whom he engaged in sexual activity in obtaining a passport, falsely indicating to the U.S. State Department that she was a constituent.
- Representative Gaetz knowingly and willfully sought to impede and obstruct the Committee’s investigation of his conduct.
- Representative Gaetz has acted in a manner that reflects discreditably upon the House.
The report went on to discuss in detail how combative Gaetz was with the committee’s investigation efforts, including blowing off depositions and subpoenas. The report also notably discussed that there was simply not enough evidence to find that the ex-congressman participated in sex trafficking under the federal statute.
Gaetz actually admitted earlier this year that the Justice Department launched a separate investigation against him into sex trafficking allegations involving underage girls, but that the investigation quietly ended last year without federal charges, thus implying he was exonerated. However, many people were confused about how such a conclusion could be made since his once-political ally, Josh Greenberg, was charged. The same investigation resulted in a plea deal with Greenberg admitting — as part of a plea deal with prosecutors in 2021 — that he paid women and an underage girl to have sex with him and other men. The men were not identified in court documents when he pleaded guilty. Greenberg was sentenced in late 2022 to 11 years in prison.
Gaetz immediately went on the defense after the report’s release by posting snippets of depositions from committee witnesses he said refuted claims he paid 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 Dec. 23 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.”
Continued fallout from the report’s release is expected in the coming days.
