(Washington) Former American elected official Matt Gaetz, once designated by Donald Trump as the next attorney general of the United States before having to give up, paid a 17-year-old minor for sex, concludes a parliamentary report made public Monday.
Posted at 10:38 a.m.
Updated at 11:41 a.m.
Between 2017 and 2020, the then Florida representative in Congress “made payments to women amounting to tens of thousands of dollars, which the Commission determined were likely related to sexual relations and/or drug use,” including cocaine and ecstasy, write members of the House of Representatives Ethics Committee in their 37-page report.
The commission, which has been investigating since 2021, also says it has collected testimony from a woman claiming to have had sexual relations with Matt Gaetz twice at a party in 2017, when she was only 17 years old. The witness states that she was paid $400 in cash by the elected official after that.
The report notes that under Florida law, any sexual act committed by a person over the age of 24 on a minor 16 or 17 years old is a felony.
The Commission determined that there was “substantial evidence” that Matt Gaetz had violated congressional rules, as well as federal and Florida state laws regarding – among other things – prostitution, sexual relations with minors, or illicit drug use.
The 42-year-old ex-elect has always denied having had sexual relations with minors, and pointed out in a press release on X last week that an investigation by the Department of Justice had resulted in the absence of prosecutions in 2023 .
“I probably partied, slept around, drank, and smoked more than I should have” in the past, he said, denying any criminal wrongdoing and adding “living a different life now.”
His lawyers filed a complaint Monday asking a federal court to block any publication of the parliamentary report, to no avail.
“There is a reason they did this to me in a report the day before Christmas and not in any court where I could present evidence and confront witnesses,” he wrote on X Monday.
Re-elected to Congress in early November, Matt Gaetz resigned from his mandate a few days after being designated by Donald Trump as his future attorney general.
PHOTO ANDREW HARNIK, ARCHIVES ASSOCIATED PRESS
Matt Gaetz has been an ally of Donald Trump for many years.
But this appointment caused a stir due to the numerous controversies surrounding the elected official from Florida.
Faced with the difficulties of seeing his nomination confirmed by the Senate, the former Republican elected official had given up on becoming attorney general.
In January he is due to become a presenter on OAN, a conservative and pro-Trump channel.
