The House Ethics Committee’s investigation into Matt Gaetz discovered “substantial evidence” that the previous Florida consultant had engaged in illicit drug use and sexual misconduct whereas in workplace. The proof consists of an allegation that he paid a 17-year-old for intercourse in 2017, in accordance with a draft of the report obtained by CBS News and different shops Monday forward of its anticipated launch.
The shops reported that Gaetz—who filed a last-minute lawsuit Monday making an attempt to dam the Ethics outcomes from being launched—is accused within the report of getting “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.” The 37-page report—which is alleged to incorporate Venmo and PayPal receipts—additionally alleges that Gaetz paid greater than $90,000 to 12 totally different girls, “likely in connection with sexual activity and/or drug use” between 2017 and 2020.
One of the ladies who testified to having intercourse with Gaetz at a 2017 occasion was 17 on the time and had simply completed her junior 12 months in highschool—although she reportedly didn’t inform him of her age, “nor did she ask,” in accordance with the report. While the report notes that each one girls who testified mentioned their encounters had been consensual, one lady informed the committee that “when I look back on certain moments, I feel violated.”
Gaetz, who has denied allegations of wrongdoing, resigned from Congress final month after he was named Donald Trump’s nominee for lawyer common—two days earlier than the Ethics committee was to carry a vote on releasing the outcomes of its long-running investigation into his conduct. But he withdrew from consideration quickly after, writing that the sexual misconduct allegations surrounding him—and that doubtless doomed his affirmation—had develop into a “distraction.”
“There is no time to waste on a needlessly protracted Washington scuffle,” Gaetz mentioned in a press release on the time.
Until now, Gaetz appeared, briefly, to be within the clear: The committee voted towards releasing its ends in late November, and the Republican was employed to host a program on the pro-Trump One America News Network. But then, final week, it was reported that the Ethics panel had “secretly voted” in December to make the report public. In response, Gaetz mentioned on the time that he “probably partied, womanized, drank and smoked more than I should have earlier in life. However, he once again denied the statutory rape allegation, pointing to a Justice Department recommendation not to bring charges against him in its own sex trafficking inquiry. “I live a different life now,” he mentioned.