Matt Gaetz was charged with having sex with a minor in the House Ethics Report
The House Ethics Committee’s investigation of Matt Gaetz establish “substantial evidence” that the former Florida representative engaged in illegal drug use and sexual misconduct while in office. Evidence includes allegations that he paid for sex with a 17-year-old girl in 2017, according to a draft report obtained by CBS News and CBS. other stores The Monday before the scheduled release date.
The outlet reported that Gaetz—who filed a lawsuit at the last minute Monday tried to block the publication of the results Ethics — accused in the report of having “violated the Code and other standards of conduct prohibiting prostitution, statutory rape, illegal drug use legislation, unauthorized gifts, privileges or privileges, and obstruction of Congress. ” The 37-page report — which allegedly includes Venmo and PayPal receipts — also alleges that Gaetz paid more than $90,000 to 12 different women, “which may have involved sexual activity and/or drug use” from 2017 to 2020.
One of the women who testified about having sex with Gaetz at a party in 2017 was 17 at the time and had just finished her senior year of high school — although she allegedly did not tell him her age , “she didn’t ask either,” according to the report. While the report noted that all of the women who testified said their encounters were consensual, one woman told the commission that “when I look back on certain moments, I feel violated”.
Gaetz, who has denied allegations of wrongdoing, resigned from Congress last month after he was named Donald Trumpnominee for attorney general — two days before the Ethics Committee holds a vote on releasing the results of a long-running investigation into his conduct. But he withdrew reviewed shortly after, writing that the sexual misconduct allegations surrounding him — and that he might have to confirm — had become a “distraction.”
“There is no more time to waste on an unnecessarily drawn-out brawl in Washington,” Gaetz said in a statement at the time.
For now, Gaetz appears to have been clear: The committee voted against releasing its results in late November, and Republicans did. rented to host a show on the pro-Trump One America News Network. But then, last week, there it was reported that the Ethics panel “secretly voted” in December to make the report public. In response, Gaetz speak at the time, he “probably partied, womanized, drank and smoked more than I should have done earlier in my life. However, he again denied the statutory rape charge, pointing to the Justice Department’s recommendation not to bring charges against him in its own sex trafficking investigation. “I’m living a different life now,” he said.
