US House Ethics report accuses Matt Gaetz of sex crimes, drug use in office

The House Ethics Committee on Monday accused Matt Gaetz of regularly paying women, including a 17-year-old girl, for sex and purchasing and using illicit drugs all while the Florida Republican was a member of Congress.

The 37-page report by the bipartisan panel includes explicit details of sex-filled parties and vacations that Gaetz, now 42, took part in while representing Florida's western panhandle. The findings conclude that he violated multiple state laws related to sexual misconduct while in office.

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 favours or privileges, and obstruction of Congress, the report states.

The report brings to a close a nearly five-year investigation into Gaetz. Its release comes after at least one Republican joined all five Democrats on the panel earlier this month in a secret vote to release the report about their former colleague despite initial opposition from GOP lawmakers, including House Speaker Mike Johnson, to publishing findings about a former member of Congress.

While ethics reports have previously been released after a member's resignation, it is extremely rare. Gaetz has repeatedly denied all wrongdoing, saying last week that he would have no opportunity to debate or rebut the findings as a former member of the House.

On Monday, Gaetz filed a lawsuit seeking to block the report's release, saying it contains untruthful and defamatory information that would significantly damage his standing and reputation in the community. Gaetz's complaint argues he's no longer under the committee's jurisdiction since he resigned from Congress.

The Committee's position that it may nonetheless 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's lawyers wrote in their request for a temporary restraining order.

The often secretive, bipartisan panel has investigated claims against Gaetz since 2021. However, its work became more urgent last month when President-elect Donald Trump picked Gaetz as his attorney general nominee. Gaetz resigned from Congress that same day, putting him outside the purview of the Ethics Committee's jurisdiction.

But Democrats had pressed to make the report public even after Gaetz was no longer a member and had withdrawn as Trump's pick to lead the Justice Department. A vote on the House floor this month to force the report's release failed; all but one Republican voted against it.