A long-awaited House Ethics Committee report on former Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz determined there was “substantial evidence” the onetime lawmaker paid several women, including at least one minor, to have sex with him.
The report was published in full by the House Ethics Committee on Monday morning after the panel secretly voted earlier this month to release it. Gaetz, President-elect Donald Trump‘s former nominee for attorney general who resigned from Congress last month, was investigated for four years by the committee over allegations of sexual misconduct with a minor and use of illicit drugs.
“The Committee determined there is substantial evidence that Representative Gaetz violated House Rules and other standards of conduct prohibiting prostitution, statutory rape, illicit drug use, impermissible gifts, special favors or privileges, and obstruction of Congress,” says the 37-page report.
Central to the committee’s findings was that Gaetz allegedly “engaged in sexual activity” with a 17-year-old girl, referred to as Victim A in the report, in 2017 while attending a party. The report notes that the committee was told that Gaetz and the 17-year-old girl had sex twice at the party, with Victim A telling the committee she received $400 in cash from the Florida congressman that she “understood to be a payment for sex.”
The committee does note that Victim A did not tell Gaetz that she was a minor, nor did he ask her age.
Still, the committee’s investigation found that Gaetz paid multiple women thousands of dollars, likely in connection to sexual activity or drug use, though the committee does acknowledge that Gaetz was in a long-term relationship with one of the women. These payments were either made directly by Gaetz or were made on his behalf through Joel Greenberg, who was sentenced in 2022 for sex trafficking of a minor and other crimes.
Another key finding of the committee was that Gaetz accepted gifts in “excess of permissible amounts,” including a trip to the Bahamas in 2018, during which he allegedly “engaged in sexual activity” with at least four women on the trip.
In another instance in 2018, the report says Gaetz had his chief of staff tell the State Department that a woman he was having sex with was a constituent of his in order to help her obtain a passport.
In its report, the House Ethics Committee wrote that it did “not find sufficient evidence” that Gaetz had violated federal sex trafficking laws, which was the focal point of the Department of Justice’s closed investigation into the Florida Republican. However, it does allege that he violated state laws prohibiting prostitution and sex with a minor and violated multiple House rules and ethics guidelines.
The report also alleges that there was “sufficient evidence of Representative Gaetz’s intent to derail the investigation.”
“The Committee determined that Representative Gaetz’s attempts to mislead and deter the Committee from investigating him implicated federal criminal laws relating to false statements and obstruction of Congress. Even if Representative Gaetz’s obstructive conduct in this investigation did not rise to the level of a criminal violation, it was certainly inconsistent with the requirement that Members act in a manner that reflects creditably upon the House,” says the report.
Shortly after the report was leaked to various news outlets Monday morning, Gaetz defended himself in a post on X, saying, “Giving funds to someone you are dating – that they didn’t ask for – and that isn’t “charged” for sex is now prostitution?!?”
He continued, “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.”
Gaetz previously denied any wrongdoing and was not charged in a separate DOJ investigation. Shortly after it was reported that the Ethics Committee had voted to share the report, the former Florida congressman blasted the committee in a social media post.
HOUSE PANEL VOTES TO RELEASE GAETZ REPORT IN SURPRISE REVERSAL
“I was charged with nothing: FULLY EXONERATED. Not even a campaign finance violation. And the people investigating me hated me,” he said in a post to X on Dec. 18.
“Then, the very ‘witnesses’ DOJ deemed not-credible were assembled by House Ethics to repeat their claims absent any cross-examination or challenge from me or my attorneys,” Gaetz continued. “I’ve had no chance to ever confront any accusers. I’ve never been charged. I’ve never been sued. Instead, House Ethics will reportedly post a report online that I have no opportunity to debate or rebut as a former member of the body.”
Gaetz then explained that he sent funds to some women he dated or was interested in but denied he ever had sexual contact with anyone under the age of 18.
“Any claim that I have would be destroyed in court — which is why no such claim was ever made in court,” Gaetz said. “My 30s were an era of working very hard — and playing hard too. It’s embarrassing, though not criminal, that I probably partied, womanized, drank, and smoked more than I should have earlier in life. I live a different life now.”
The release of the ethics report marks one of the rare occasions the committee has chosen to publish the findings of a former member and comes after it had previously been deadlocked along party lines over the report’s release.
Following the release of the report, Chairman Michael Guest (R-MS) said in a statement that he was not one of the members to vote to release the committee’s findings.
“While I do not challenge the Committee’s findings, I did not vote to support the release of the report and I take great exception that the majority deviated from the Committee’s well-established standards and voted to release a report on an individual no longer under the Committee’s jurisdiction, an action the Committee has not taken since 2006,” Guest wrote. “The decision to publish a report after his resignation breaks from the Committee’s long-standing practice, opens the Committee to undue criticism, will be viewed by some as an attempt to weaponize the Committee’s process, and is a dangerous departure with potentially catastrophic consequences.”
Gaetz resigned his congressional seat after being nominated for the position of attorney general, days before the House Ethics Committee was set to share its report originally, throwing the release of the investigation’s findings into uncertainty as the committee no longer had jurisdiction over him.
He later withdrew his name from consideration as attorney general in the face of opposition in the Senate.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
House Republicans shot down two separate attempts from Democrats to compel the committee to release its findings earlier this month when it was still uncertain whether the committee would do so itself. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) also told reporters he was going to “strongly request” that the Ethics Committee not issue its report as the committee debated its release.
Cami Mondeaux contributed to this report.
Read the committee’s report in full here:
