According to CNN:
The House Ethics Committee found evidence that former Rep. Matt Gaetz paid tens of thousands of dollars to women for sex or drugs on at least 20 occasions, including paying a 17-year-old girl for sex in 2017, according to a final draft of the panel’s report on the Florida Republican. The committee concluded that Gaetz violated Florida state laws, including statutory rape law, as it took the rare step of releasing a report about a former member who resigned from Congress.
The panel determined that there was substantial evidence Gaetz violated House rules, including prohibitions on prostitution, statutory rape, illicit drug use, impermissible gifts, special favors, and obstruction of Congress. The investigation focused on payments Gaetz made to women using platforms like PayPal and Venmo and on a 2018 trip to the Bahamas, which was found to have violated House gift rules. During the trip, Gaetz allegedly engaged in sexual activity with multiple women, one of whom described the trip as “the payment” for sex. Gaetz also reportedly used ecstasy during the trip.
Earlier this month, the committee secretly voted to release the report after initially voting against it. The report’s release marked the end of a years-long investigation into Gaetz, who was previously President-elect Donald Trump’s first pick for attorney general. CNN reached out to Gaetz for comment, but he has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.
While the committee alleged that Gaetz violated state laws, it found no evidence that he violated federal sex trafficking laws. The panel determined that although Gaetz transported women across state lines for commercial sex, none of the women were under 18 at the time of travel, nor did they find sufficient evidence of coercion.
The report includes testimony from more than a dozen women who said they were paid for sex by Gaetz or his friend, Joel Greenberg, a former Seminole County tax collector who is serving an 11-year prison sentence and cooperated with federal investigators. Gaetz is alleged to have paid for sex through a website, SeekingArrangement.com. The committee found that Gaetz made payments to women via platforms like PayPal, Venmo, and CashApp.
One woman told the committee that she received more than $5,000 from Gaetz between 2018 and 2019, with the expectation of sex. Text messages between Gaetz’s then-girlfriend and women also suggested that Gaetz was involved in sex-for-money arrangements. The committee also found text messages where Greenberg arranged meetings with women and discussed the payment for sex.
The committee also found that Gaetz used illegal drugs, including cocaine and ecstasy, on multiple occasions. Investigators found that Gaetz set up a pseudonymous email account from his House office for purchasing marijuana. Gaetz denied using illicit drugs in his correspondence with the committee.
The report also detailed violations of House rules, including a September 2018 trip to the Bahamas where Gaetz accepted gifts of transportation and lodging exceeding permissible amounts. Gaetz was accompanied by two men and six women, and the committee found that he engaged in sexual activity with at least four of the women.
The committee’s investigation into Gaetz began in 2021 but was paused during a federal sex-trafficking investigation that ultimately closed in 2023 without charges. After the federal case closed, the Ethics Committee resumed its investigation.
Although Gaetz resigned from Congress in November during his failed bid to become Trump’s attorney general, the committee initially voted not to release the final report. However, the decision was reversed weeks later. The report’s release drew attention from lawmakers and political figures, with some questioning whether Gaetz’s resignation was an attempt to bury the investigation.
Gaetz is set to join One America News Network as an anchor in January. House Speaker Mike Johnson initially opposed the release of the report, stating that Gaetz’s resignation made it irrelevant. Some lawmakers believed Gaetz’s resignation was an effort to shield himself from the investigation. The report was ultimately made public after the committee voted to release it.
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H/T: CNN
