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The House Ethics Committee finally released theirs report about the allegations against Rep. Florida’s Matt Gaetz on Monday after Donald Trump’s failed effort to nominate the former congressman as US Attorney General. And while Gaetz has denied the allegations that he had sex with a minor, it’s pretty shocking reading all in all.
From at least 2017 to 2020, Gaetz allegedly paid thousands of dollars for sex with women, including a 17-year-old girl. The report also says Gaetz took illegal drugs like cocaine and ecstasy, and accepted a gift trip to the Bahamas that violated congressional rules. Gaetz also helped one of the women he had sex with get an expedited passport, falsely telling the State Department she was one of his constituents, according to the report.
Gaetz also allegedly obstructed Congress as the investigation into his conduct was conducted and refused to cooperate as the committee sought to determine whether the lawmaker had violated ethics rules. It is unclear whether Gaetz will face state charges for any of the allegations, although the committee no longer has jurisdiction over Gaetz since he resigned from his post despite winning re-election in November.
The congressional report found that, based on its investigation, “there was substantial evidence that Representative Gaetz violated the Rules of the House, state and federal laws, and other standards of conduct that prohibit prostitution, the statutory rape, the use of illicit drugs, the acceptance of impermissible gifts, the provision of special favors and privileges, and the obstruction of Congress.”
The report also includes screenshots of text messages from Joel Greenberg, a friend of Gaetz’s who is currently serving 11 years in prison for child sex trafficking. Greenberg pleaded guilty to multiple charges in 2022, but denied having sex with underage girls.
The report has a breakdown of how much Gaetz allegedly paid various women from 2017 to 2020, totaling more than $60,000, including an ex-girlfriend who was allegedly involved in some of the activities with sex workers, though the report notes “some of the payments could have. was of a legitimate nature”.
Gaetz did not send text messages to the committee, but the report included some messages from him, presumably obtained through sex workers he paid. The texts sometimes refer to “party favors” which the report says are references to illegal drugs.
The committee also said in the report how Gaetz was allegedly introduced to the women by Greenberg who found him on the website SeekingArrangement.com, an online dating site now known only as Seeking.com, which specializes in relationships “sugar dating” where a younger woman. typically engages with an older man under some type of stable financial arrangement.
Gaetz took to social media after the release of the report to defend himself against the allegations in the report.
Giving money to someone you’re dating – who didn’t ask – and who isn’t “charged” for sex is now prostitution?!?
There is a reason they did this to me in a Christmas Eve report and not in a courtroom of any kind where I could present evidence and challenge… pic.twitter.com/HzWODpBBB9
– Matt Gaetz (@mattgaetz) December 23, 2024
Many Republicans opposed the release of the report, including ethics committee chairman Rep. Michael Guest of Mississippi. Guest wrote for the dissenting members of the committee, insisting that they no longer have jurisdiction to release the findings since Gaetz had resigned, an argument that makes no sense.
“We believe that operating outside the legal boundaries established by House Rules and Committee standards, particularly when making public disclosures, is a dangerous departure with potentially catastrophic consequences,” Guest wrote.
It’s not clear what could be “dangerous” about the release of a congressional report, unless it contains something inaccurate, which Guest doesn’t say. Congress releases reports on people who have never worked as congressmen all the time. The committee simply no longer has jurisdiction to punish him. State and federal authorities, however, have jurisdiction if they want to charge him with any of the crimes described in the report.
There are hundreds of pages included in the appendices, with everything from plane boarding passes and travel itineraries to questionnaires submitted to the committee and text messages between Gaetz and the women he allegedly paid for sex. And some on social media took the opportunity to joke about some of the details here, including the fact that at least one of the women was flying. Spirit Airlines.
Not enough is said about how Matt Gaetz used to fly Spirit Airlines pic.twitter.com/nqstSfZoTu
— Monica Venzke (@monicavenzke) December 23, 2024
Whatever the topic, the internet will roast you.
