Congressional ethics investigators found that former Rep. Matt Gaetz, a Florida Republican who briefly ran to become President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for attorney general, had paid numerous women, including a 17-year-old girl, for sex and buying — and using — illegal drugs, including in his Capitol Hill office, according to a final draft of an extensive investigative report obtained by CBS News.
Those were among the findings of the House Ethics Committee’s long-running investigation into Gaetz, which concluded that the former Florida congressman violated several state laws related to sexual misconduct while in office.
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“The Committee determined that there is substantial evidence that Representative Gaetz violated House rules and other standards of conduct that prohibit prostitution, statutory rape, illicit drug use, impermissible gifts, favors or special privileges and congressional obstruction,” the 37-page report concludes.
Gaetz resigned from Congress in November after Trump announced plans to appoint him as Attorney General. But in the face of the opposition of some Republican colleagues, Gaetz retired of consideration a week later. The publication of the ethics report, expected Monday, brings to an end, at least for now, Gaetz’s incendiary tenure on Capitol Hill, where he became one of the most vocal and provocative members of the pro-Trump faction in Congress.
Gaetz has denied any wrongdoing and said the claims were a “smear” concocted by his political enemies. The committee said the congressman refused to sit for sworn testimony, although he submitted written responses to some of the committee’s questions.
The report gives new voice to allegations of misconduct that have circulated for years against Gaetz, despite his staunch denials. It’s based on testimony from witnesses who told the committee they were paid to have sex with Gaetz, text messages discussing the transactions and receipts from Venmo and PayPal.
Among the report’s most outrageous findings were allegations of sex- and drug-fueled parties and trips, including a 2018 trip to the Bahamas where witnesses say he took ecstasy and had sex with four women.
“From 2017 to 2020, Representative Gaetz made tens of thousands of dollars in payments to women that the Committee determined were related to sexual activity and/or drug use,” states the report, which lists the payments totaling more than $90,000 to 12 different women
The committee said it also received testimony that at a party in 2017, Gaetz had sex twice with “Victim A.” who was 17 at the time and had just finished his first year of high school.
“Victim A recalled receiving $400 in cash from Representative Gaetz that evening, which she understood to be payment for sex,” the committee wrote. “Victim A said she did not inform Representative Gaetz that she was under 18 at the time, nor did she ask him her age.”
In his written responses to the committee, Gaetz denied having sex with a minor. The Department of Justice previously researched Gaetz for violating sex trafficking laws but did not press charges. The committee said it did not find sufficient evidence that Gaetz violated the federal sex-trafficking statute because, although he transported women across state lines for sexual purposes, those women were 18 or older at the time.
The report noted that while all of the women who testified said the sexual encounters with Gaetz were consensual, one woman told the committee that drug use at parties and events they attended may have “damaged”.[ed their] the ability to actually know what was going on or full consent.”
Another woman told the committee: “When I look back at certain times, I feel violated.”
The report found “substantial evidence” that Gaetz engaged in illicit drug use. The committee said it obtained text messages he sent in which he referred to the drugs as “party favors”, “rolls” or “vitamins”. He also said he created a fake email from his Capitol Hill office “for the purpose of purchasing marijuana.” The report noted that Gaetz had denied the use of illicit drugs in his written responses to the committee.
In addition to sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, the report also accused Gaetz of accepting luxury travel gifts above the permitted limits on the 2018 trip to the Bahamas. And, he said he arranged for his chief of staff to help a woman with whom he had had sexual activity obtain a passport, falsely telling the State Department that she was one of his constituents.
Gaetz told conservative personality Charlie Kirk last month that he plans to spend the next few years “fighting for President Trump.”
“I think eight years is probably enough time in the United States Congress,” Gaetz said, though he posted last week on X the idea of participating again in the elections for president of the Chamber.
The House Ethics Committee had initially voted to keep the report secret, but reversed course in a secret ballot earlier this month. Two Republican members of the committee were among those who voted for his release, according to two sources familiar with the vote. The committee has 10 members, split equally between Republicans and Democrats.