The House Ethics Committee votes to release Matt Gaetz’s report

The House Ethics Committee votes to release Matt Gaetz’s report

The U.S. House of Representatives Ethics Committee has voted to release its report on former Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz, two sources familiar with the matter told the BBC’s U.S. partner CBS News.

The report follows a year-long investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct and illegal drug use. It is expected to be released in the coming days.

House Republicans previously blocked Democrats’ efforts to reveal the report’s findings to the former Florida representative, but in a vote on Dec. 5, two Republicans voted to release the report, according to CBS.

Gaetz, who has denied any wrongdoing, said Wednesday: “I have not been accused of anything: TOTALLY EXonerated. Not even a campaign finance violation. And the people who were investigating me hated me.”

He added: “Instead, House Ethics will reportedly post a report online that I, as a former member of the panel, cannot discuss or refute.”

Gaetz resigned from Congress last month after President-elect Donald Trump announced he would nominate him to head the U.S. Justice Department.

But just a week later, he withdrew his name from consideration for the role after Democrats and Republicans sparked a backlash and debate over the release of the committee’s report.

Gaetz said at the time that he hoped to avoid an “unnecessarily protracted melee in Washington.”

The 42-year-old has since said he will not return to Congress for the next term but will launch a new show on the Trump-affiliated One America News Network in January.

The Ethics Commission declined to comment on the news that it had voted to release the report, which was first reported by CNN.

It was previously said that Gaetz was being investigated for sexual misconduct, illegal drug use and bribery.

A woman who attended a party with him in 2017 testified before a House committee that she saw the then-congressman having sex with a minor, according to the woman’s attorney.

The same lawyer claimed that Gaetz paid this witness and another woman to have sex with him.

In the same X post from Wednesday, Gaetz wrote: “It’s embarrassing, although not criminal, that I probably partied, womanized, drank and smoked more than I should have earlier in life. I live a different life now.”

He has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and called the investigation against him a “smear campaign.”

The Justice Department — which Trump originally hired to oversee Gaetz — also investigated allegations that he had sex with a minor but ultimately did not file criminal charges against him.

Joel Greenberg, Gaetz’s former boyfriend, was the only person charged in the Justice Department’s investigation into human trafficking for sexual exploitation. He cooperated with investigators and reportedly shared information with prosecutors about several other people, including Gaetz.

Greenberg is currently serving an 11-year prison sentence after agreeing to plead guilty to multiple federal charges, including sex trafficking of minors, wire fraud, stalking, identity theft, presenting a false identification card and conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government.

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