Matt Gaetz, the man Donald Trump wanted to put in charge of the US Department of Justice, paid numerous women – including a 17-year-old girl – for sex, bought and used illegal drugs, including in his Capitol office, and violated several state laws relating to sexual misconduct while in office, according to the final version of a comprehensive investigative report from the House Ethics Committee obtained by several media, including CBS News and CNN. The document was officially made public later on Monday.
“The Committee has determined that there is substantial evidence that Representative Gaetz violated House rules and other standards of conduct prohibiting prostitution, sexual abuse of a minor, use of illegal drugs, impermissible gifts , special favors or privileges, and obstruction of Congress,” the 37-page report concludes.
The former Florida representative resigned his seat shortly after being nominated to serve as U.S. attorney general by Trump. He later withdrew his candidacy after certain allegations against him were published in the media. Gaetz has denied all allegations and repeated that he was cleared by the Justice Department, which ended an investigation into him in 2023 without charging him.
The Ethics Commission's report details parties and revolving trips focused on sex and drugs, including a trip to the Bahamas in 2018 where witnesses say Gaetz took ecstasy and had sex sexual with four women. “From 2017 to 2020, Rep. Gaetz made tens of thousands of dollars in payments to women that the committee determined were likely related to sexual activity and/or drug use,” notes the report, which lists payments totaling more than $90,000 to 12 different women.
The commission also received testimony that, at a party in 2017, Gaetz twice had sex with “Victim A,” who was 17 at the time and had just completed her freshman year of high school. school. “Victim A recalled receiving $400 in cash from Representative Gaetz that evening, which she understood to be payment for sex,” the commission wrote. “Victim A stated that she did not inform Representative Gaetz that she was under 18 at the time, nor did he ask her her age. »
Last week, Gaetz admitted to sending money to several women, some of whom had been his girlfriends and others he did not know but who had asked him for handouts. He also denied having had sexual relations with minors.
In addition to sexual misconduct and illegal drug use, the report also accuses Gaetz of accepting gifts for luxury travel that exceeded permitted limits, including during the 2018 trip to the Bahamas. He also asked his chief of staff to help a woman he had sex with obtain a passport, falsely telling the State Department that she was one of his constituents.
The Ethics Commission does not accuse Gaetz of violating federal sex trafficking laws. Key passage from the report: “Although Representative Gaetz arranged for the transportation of women across state lines for commercial sex, the committee did not find evidence that any of these women were aged under 18 years of age at the time of travel, and the commission did not find sufficient evidence to conclude that the commercial sex acts were induced by force, fraud, or coercion. »
As of this writing, Gaetz has yet to respond to the report's release.
PS: Gaetz asked (in vain) this Monday morning for a federal judge in Washington to block the publication of the report, arguing that the Ethics Commission is acting outside its authority because it has no jurisdiction over it now that he resigned from Congress.
(Photo Getty Images)
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