The US House Ethics Committee has found that former Florida congressman Matt Gaetz paid tens of thousands of dollars to women for drugs and sex, including a 17-year-old girl, US media reported Monday, announcing a final draft of the panel's report. .
Gaetz, who has denied it, resigned from the House of Representatives last month after being picked by President Donald Trump to be attorney general. . He withdrew from consideration in the face of an uphill confirmation battle in the Senate.
To block the release of the report, which is expected on Monday, Gaetz filed a lawsuit against the Ethics panel saying
damage to his reputation and professional standing would be “very severe and irreversible.”
Denial of all wrongdoing
The panel investigated transactions that Gaetz made personally, often using PayPal or Venmo, with more than a dozen women during his time in Congress, CNN said.
A report from the US House Ethics Committee found that former Florida congressman Matt Gaetz violated 'House Rules and other standards of conduct prohibiting prostitution, statutory rape, illegal drug use, unauthorized gifts, favors or special privileges' , and obstruction of Congress,' according to a statement from CBS and CNN, which say they have received a final version of the investigative report.
“The Committee concluded that there is substantial evidence that Representative Gaetz violated House Rules and other standards of conduct prohibiting prostitution, statutory rape, illegal drug use, unauthorized gifts, favors or special privileges, and obstruction of Congress,” panel investigators wrote, according to CNN. .
The report found that Gaetz paid more than $90,000 US to 12 different women, payments that the Ethics panel determined were likely related to sexual activity and drug use, CBS said.
The Ethics panel received evidence that Gaetz had sex with a 17-year-old girl twice, described in the report as “Victim A,” at a party in 2017, CBS reported.
“Victim A recalled receiving $400 in cash from Agent Gaetz that evening, which she understood to be payment for sex,” CBS quoted the report as saying. she told Representative Gaetz that she was under 18 at the time, and that he did not ask her age.
Gaetz was the subject of a three-year FBI investigation into sex trafficking allegations that did not result in criminal charges.
The Ethics panel said there was insufficient evidence that the three-time contact violated the federal sex trafficking statute, CBS reported.
All the women who testified said the sexual encounters with Gaetz were consensual, according to CBS.
Former US congressman Matt Gaetz has withdrawn his name from consideration for President Donald Trump's attorney general, saying his confirmation was becoming a distraction.
However, one woman told the committee that the use of drugs at the parties and events they attended may have “impaired their ability to know what was going on or to have full consent.” “
Another woman told the committee: “When I look back at certain times, I feel like I was broken.
The report found that Gaetz violated House rules and other standards of conduct prohibiting prostitution, statutory rape and drug use, CBS reported.
'Substantial evidence'
It also found “substantial evidence” Gaetz was involved in illegal drug use, CBS reported. He accused him of accepting gifts of luxury travel that exceeded the permitted limits with a 2018 trip to the Bahamas, CBS reported.
In a statement Gaetz issued on X last week after CNN reported that the committee had voted to release the report, Gaetz denied having sex with a minor or paying women for sex.
“In my single days, I often sent money to women I dated – even some I never dated but asked. I dated several of these women for years,” Gaetz said. “It is shameful, although not criminal, that I may have divorced, touched, drank and smoked more than I should have earlier in life. Life is between I'm different now.”
