Home ethics investigators were told that Matt Gaetz had sex with an underage girl: report

Florida Representative Matt Gaetz conveniently resigned from Congress just two days before the House Ethics Committee planned to vote on releasing a report on his alleged misconduct. That report may contain some damning testimony about the Republican lawmaker ABC Newsbut it’s unclear if it will ever see the light of day now that the president-elect is in place Donald Trump has asked Gaetz to serve as his attorney general.

Since 2021, the House Ethics Committee has been investigating a laundry list of accusations about Gaetz, including claims that he used illegal drugs, had sex with a 17-year-old girl, accepted inappropriate gifts, and granted improper personal privileges and favors. Gaetz has fiercely denied these allegations and described one of his main accusers as a former friend Joel Greenburgas a “criminal liar.”

But the young woman is at the center of the committee’s investigation Also testified that she had sex with Gaetz when she was an underage high school student, ABC News reports this Thursday. And the committee interviewed “at least half a dozen women” who said they had been paid to attend sex- and drug-related parties that Gaetz also attended. One woman further testified to the committee that a Venmo payment she received from Gaetz was for sex. Notably, federal prosecutors also investigated the allegations of sexual harassment by minors as part of a separate investigation — and never filed charges. Gaetz could soon be heading that department.

But before Gaetz’s nomination to lead the Justice Department was greenlit, lawmakers from both parties had to give the go-ahead are demanding that the House Ethics Committee release its full report. There is some uncertainty as to whether the panel could do this: the chair, representative Michael Guesta Republican from Mississippi, said his committee lost “jurisdiction” when Gaetz resigned from the House of Representatives to accept Trump’s nomination as attorney general. But the timing of that resignation has other lawmakers viewed as suspicious, including the senator Dick Durbinthe Illinois Democrat who chairs the committee charged with overseeing the AG’s confirmation. “The sequence and timing of Mr. Gaetz’s resignation from the House of Representatives raises serious questions about the contents of the House Ethics Committee report,” Durbin said in a statement. “We cannot allow this valuable information from a two-pronged investigation to remain hidden.” Senator Jon Cornyna Republican from Texas, suggested the Senate Judiciary Committee could sue the report if the House refuses to share it.

Some Republican lawmakers have done so, too reportedly speculated that Trump nominated Gaetz solely to thwart the release of the report. It wouldn’t be the first time that the now former congressman has turned to Trump for help with his legal matters: in the final weeks of Trump’s first term, he also reportedly asked an unusual, preemptive pardon to protect him from future sex trafficking charges.