The House Ethics Committee finally released its report on allegations against Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz on Monday after Donald Trump’s failed bid to nominate the former congressman as US Attorney General. And while Gaetz has denied allegations that he had sex with a minor, it’s shocking to read all around.
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 used 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 slept with get an expedited passport, and lied to the State Department that she was one of his accomplices, according to the report.
Gaetz is said to have again disrupted Congress as an investigation was conducted into his conduct and refused to cooperate as the committee sought to determine whether the congressman had violated ethics rules. It is unclear whether Gaetz will face federal charges related to any of the allegations, although the committee has not been able to handle Gaetz since he resigned, despite his re-election in November.
The congressional report found that based on its investigation, “there is substantial evidence that Representative Gaetz violated House Rules, state and federal laws, and other standards of conduct that prohibit prostitution, statutory rape, use of illegal drugs, the acceptance of prohibited gifts, the provision of favors and privileges, and the prohibition of Congress. “
The report also includes screenshots of text messages from Joel Greenberg, a friend of Gaetz’s who is currently serving an 11-year sentence for child trafficking. Greenberg pleaded guilty to multiple charges in 2022 but denied having sex with any teenage girls.
The report details how much money Gaetz allegedly paid to 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 prostitutes, although the report notes that “some of the payments may have been legitimate in nature.”
Gaetz did not turn the messages over to the committee, but the report includes messages from him, which may have been received by prostitutes he was paying. The documents sometimes refer to “group favoritism” which the report says refers to illegal drugs.
The committee also detailed in the report how Gaetz was allegedly introduced to the women by Greenberg who found them on the website SeekingArrangement.com, an online dating site now known as Just Seeking.com, which focuses on “sugar dating” relationships when the woman is young. she usually partners with an older man under some kind of stable financial arrangement.
Gaetz took to social media after the report was released to respond to the allegations in the report.
Giving money to your partner – who didn’t ask for it – and not being “charged” for sex is now adultery?!?
There’s a reason they did this to me in a report on Christmas Eve and not in a court of any kind where I could testify 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. The visitor wrote to the opposing committee members, insisting that they no longer have the power to release the findings now that Gaetz has resigned, an argument that makes no sense at all.
“We believe that operating outside of the geographic boundaries set by House rules and Committee standards, especially when making public disclosures, is a dangerous move with potentially disastrous consequences,” Mvashi wrote.
It’s not clear what would be “harmful” about releasing a congressional report unless it contains something wrong, which Guest doesn’t say. Congress issues reports on people who have never served as congressmen all the time. The committee no longer has the power to punish him. Federal and state authorities have the discretion to prosecute him for any of the charges mentioned in the report.
There are hundreds of pages included in the annexes, with everything from airline boarding passes and travel itineraries to questionnaires sent to the committee and text messages between Gaetz and the women he allegedly paid for sex. Others on social media took the opportunity to joke about other details that were there, including the fact that at least one of these women was driving Spirit Airlines.
It’s not enough to talk about how Matt Gaetz made Spirit Airlines fly pic.twitter.com/nqstSfZoTu
— Monica Venzke (@monicavenzke) December 23, 2024
No matter the topic, the internet will grill you.