Matt Gaetz accused of paying for sex and drugs in House Ethics report

WASHINGTON (AP) – The House Ethics Committee on Monday accused Matt Gaetz of “regularly” paying for sex, including with a 17-year-old girl, and buying and using illegal drugs, all while the Florida Republican was a member of Congress.

Gaetz has denied any wrongdoing.

The 37 page report of the two-part panel includes explicit details about sex-filled parties and vacations that Gaetz, now 42, attended from 2017 to 2020 while representing Florida’s western panhandle. The findings conclude that he violated several state laws related to sexual misconduct while in office.

“The committee determined that there is substantial evidence that Representative Gaetz violated House rules and other standards of conduct prohibiting prostitution, statutory rape, illegal drug use, illegal gifts, special favors or privileges, and obstruction of Congress,” the report said.

The report concludes a nearly five-year investigation into Gaetz, who spent most of his time in Washington embroiled in scandalswhich ultimately derailed his nomination by President-elect Donald Trump as Attorney General. His political future is uncertain, although Gaetz recently indicated he would be interested in running for the open Senate seat in Florida.

The long-awaited release of the report comes after at least one Republican joined all five Democrats on the panel earlier this month in a secret vote to release the report on their former colleague, despite initial opposition from GOP lawmakers, including House Speaker Mike Johnson , to publish findings about a former member of Congress.

While ethics reports have been released in the past following a member’s resignation, this is extremely rare. Gaetz protested its release, saying last week that he had “no opportunity to debate or refute” the findings as a former member of the House.

On Monday, Gaetz filed suit is trying to block the release of the report, which he says contains “untruthful and defamatory information” that would “significantly damage” his “status and reputation in the community.” Gaetz’s complaint claims he is no longer under the committee’s jurisdiction since he resigned from Congress.

“The committee’s position that it can nevertheless publish potentially defamatory findings about a private citizen over whom it claims no jurisdiction represents an unprecedented expansion of congressional power that threatens fundamental constitutional rights and established procedural protections,” Gaetz wrote lawyers in their request for a temporary detention. order.

In addition to soliciting prostitution, the ethics committee report says Gaetz “accepted gifts, including transportation and lodging in connection with a 2018 trip to the Bahamas, in excess of permitted amounts.”

That same year, investigators say he arranged for his chief of staff to obtain a passport for a woman he was sexually involved with and falsely told the State Department she was his constituent. One of the final pieces of “substantial evidence” gathered by the committee determined that Gaetz “willfully and knowingly sought to obstruct and block” the report.

The report contains dozens of pages of exhibits, including text messages and financial records, travel receipts, checks and online payments among various people involved. In some of the text exchanges, it appears that Gaetz invites various women to events, vacations or parties and arranges flights and lodging. At one point he asks a woman if she has a “cute black dress” to wear. There are also discussions about shipping goods.

One of the exhibits is a text exchange that appears to be between two of the women concerned about their cash flow and payments. In another, a person asks Gaetz for help paying an education expense.

The often secretive, bipartisan panel has been investigating claims against Gaetz since 2021. However, its work gained more urgency last month when, shortly after Election Day, Trump selected him as his first choice to be the nation’s top law enforcement officer. Gaetz resigned from Congress the same day, putting him outside the ethics committee’s jurisdiction.

But Democrats had pushed to release the report even after Gaetz was no longer a member and had withdrawn as Trump’s choice to lead the Ministry of Justice. A vote in Parliament this month to force the report’s release failed; all but one Republican voted against.

___ Associated Press writer Alanna Durkin Richer contributed to this report.