Gaetz ethics report finds 'substantial evidence' of statutory rape

WASHINGTON – The House Ethics Committee found “substantial evidence” that former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Florida, engaged in “prostitution, statutory rape, illegal drug use” and obstruction of Congress in a long-awaited report into alleged presidential misconduct . According to multiple reports, this is Donald Trump’s original pick to be the next U.S. attorney general.

“The evidence overwhelmingly indicates that Rep. Gaetz had sex with multiple women, including the then 17-year-old, at a party in Florida in 2017, for which they were paid,” the committee found, according to CNN and CBS News .

“Victim A recalled receiving $400 in cash from Representative Gaetz that evening, which she viewed as payment for sex,” the report states. “At the time, she had just completed her freshman year of high school.”

That witness told the committee she did not inform Gaetz that she was under 18 and “he did not ask her age,” the committee reportedly found.

Gaetz was among the speakers who addressed Trump at the conservative Turning Point AmericaFest 2024 in Phoenix on Sunday. He did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

Gaetz has vigorously denied for years that he sexually abused a minor, and a Justice Department investigation resulted in no criminal charges.

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In a post on when he was younger.

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But he insisted: “I have NEVER had sexual contact with anyone under the age of 18. Any claim I have would be destroyed in court – which is why such a claim was never brought in court.”

A secret turnaround

The bipartisan committee voted secretly to release the report earlier this month in a dramatic about-face, despite objections from some Republicans.

The vote marked a reversal for the committee, which had refused to release the report in November. After Gaetz resigned shortly after Trump appointed him U.S. attorney general, he served as the country’s top law enforcement official and head of the Justice Department.

Trump described him as “an extremely talented and tenacious lawyer” who “distinguished himself in Congress for his focus on urgently needed reform of the Justice Department.”

The ten-member ethics commission is made up of equal numbers of Republicans and Democrats and meets behind closed doors. Committee members had previously voted across party lines not to release their findings, which were based on a nearly four-year investigation.

House Democrats pushed for the report’s release even after Gaetz resigned from Congress and became Trump’s nominee to lead the Justice Department.

Gaetz withdrew from running to be Trump’s attorney general in November, saying he wanted to avoid “an unnecessarily protracted fight in Washington.”

Republicans had insisted that the report should remain confidential because Gaetz was no longer in Congress. It was not known which Republicans changed their vote to allow the report’s release.

A House vote to force the report’s release also failed, with virtually all Republican lawmakers voting against it. One particularly vocal opponent was Johnson spokesman Mike Johnson, R-La., who said releasing the report would set a “terrible precedent.”

Ethics reports have been published after a member leaves, but only rarely.

Reports of sex parties and payments

The Justice Department had previously investigated Gaetz for potential sex trafficking but closed the investigation without charges, his lawyers told USA TODAY in February 2023.

Gaetz said in his Wednesday post

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Gaetz ethics report finds ‘substantial evidence’ of statutory rape

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