The House Ethics Committee found former Rep. Matt Gaetz paid a 17-year-old girl for sex in 2017, concluding that he violated Florida's statutory rape law. This was one of 20 instances where he paid for sex or drugs, according to the final draft of the panel's report, which was obtained by CNN.
Gaetz was initially President-elect Donald Trump's pick to be attorney general, but he withdrew amid opposition from some Senate Republicans — as well as controversy over whether the ethics committee would or wouldn't release its investigative report into Gaetz.
Through looking at tens of thousands of dollars of the Florida Republican's personal transactions from his time in office, including on Venmo and PayPal, the committee found that he had paid more than a dozen women. The committee said that Gaetz “violated the House gift rule” during a 2018 trip to the Bahamas where he had sex with multiple women and took ecstasy. One woman told the committee that the trip was actually a “payment” for sex. The report identified multiple instances where he used ecstasy, cocaine, or cannabis.
“Nearly every young woman that the Committee interviewed confirmed that she was paid for sex by, or on behalf of, Representative Gaetz,” they wrote.
The panel found that he had likely violated a variety of rules: “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,” panel investigators wrote.
The ethics committee investigated the allegation that he had sex with a 17-year-old. The victim told them that Gaetz paid her $400 for having sex twice at a party in 2017. At the time, she had just finished her junior year of high school. The committee found that he did not ask her age and she did not tell him.
The committee found that Gaetz violated multiple state laws pertaining to sexual misconduct. However, it found that he did not violate federal sex trafficking laws. While he did transport women across state lines for sex, the committee found that none were under 18, and none were forced or coerced. He had previously faced a sex trafficking probe by the Department of Justice — which Trump initially wanted him to lead. The investigation did not end with any charges against Gaetz.
The investigation encountered several women who were “clear at first contact that they feared retaliation or were unwilling to voluntarily relive their interactions with Representative Gaetz.” One woman said: “I think about it all the time … . I still see him when I turn on the TV and there's nothing anyone can do. It's frustrating to know I lived a reality that he denies.”
One woman said that the use of drugs could have “impair(ed their) ability to really know what was going on or fully consent.”
On Monday, Gaetz filed to obtain a restraining order against the House Ethics Committee in the hopes that it would stop the panel from releasing the report. He accused the committee of an “unethical” probe into the life of a private citizen. He said the report included “potentially defamatory allegations.” It is rare for the House Ethics Committee to release a report about a former member of Congress.
Gaetz has denied the allegations, including that he had sex with a minor. “In my single days, I often sent funds to women I dated — even some I never dated but who asked. I dated several of these women for years,” Gaetz posted on “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 former congressman is set to join the conservative One America News Network as an anchor next month.
