Political nepo baby Matt Gaetz rose quickly to power in the House. It ended with a damning ethics report
The Florida Republican is accused of ‘regularly’ paying for sex — including with a high school student — while he was a member of Congress
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Your support makes all the difference.There is “substantial evidence” that former congressman Matt Gaetz “regularly” paid women, including a high school student, for sex and spent tens of thousands of dollars on sex- and drug-fueled parties and travel, according to a damning report from members of Congress.
The long-anticipated report from a House Ethics committee investigation finds that Gaetz likely violated state laws against statutory rape and illicit drug use, as well as House rules against misconduct and abuse of office.
Between 2017 and 2020, Gaetz “regularly paid women for engaging in sexual activity with him,” including making payments to a 17-year-old girl, the report says.
Gaetz used or possessed illegal drugs, including cocaine and ecstasy, “on multiple occasions,” according to the report, which was released Monday.
The former Republican representative was Donald Trump’s first choice for attorney general of the United States, the most powerful law enforcement official in the country.
He resigned from Congress after he received the nomination, then dropped his name from the running for the top job at the Department of Justice amid renewed scrutiny and imminent release of the report.
The committee had been set to release the findings of its years-long probe last month, two days after Trump nominated Gaetz on November 13. His resignation effectively killed the investigation.
But lawmakers ultimately voted to release the report after all. The former congressman, who has denied all misconduct allegations, raged that “the people investigating me hated me” and gave him “no chance to ever confront any accusers.”
A former attorney in northwest Florida, Gaetz styled himself as a fighter for a “more open and transparent government.” In 2010, he was elected to serve in the Florida House of Representatives to represent portions of Okaloosa and Santa Rosa county.
His father, Don Gaetz, is an influential political powerbroker and state lawmaker who once served as president of the Florida Senate.
Don Gaetz returned to the state legislature after winning a state Senate seat in November.
His son was elected to the House of Representatives in 2016, quickly earning a reputation as an outspoken far-right firebrand defending Trump’s first-term agenda.
He staunchly defended Trump during investigations into the Trump campaign’s alleged ties to Russia, which he described as a “hoax,” and during Trump’s two impeachments.
Alongside Trump cheerleader Marjorie Taylor Greene, Gaetz embarked on a nationwide “America First Tour” in 2021, in which the pair repeated debunked claims of voter fraud in the 2020 election and attacked Trump’s critics.
Such devotion earned nicknames such as the “Trumpiest Congressman in Trump’s Washington” by GQ magazine and “the Trumpiest Congressman” by Rolling Stone, which he reportedly considers “badges of honor.”
He spearheaded the push to oust former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who was among a handful of GOP figures who taunted Gaetz over the allegations against him.
Gaetz also spent his time in office raging against special counsel Jack Smith’s investigations into the former president’s attempts to subvert the 2020 election and his possession of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago resort.
His loyalty paid off. On November 13, Trump nominated Gaetz for US attorney general, sending shockwaves through Washington.
Meanwhile, Gaetz remained under investigation with the House Ethics Committee, and had previously been under investigation as part of a sex trafficking probe at the Justice Department.
That investigation targeted Gaetz and a former associate, Joel Greenberg, and allegations that the pair were part of a group of Florida Republicans who reportedly attended parties where participants used drugs and paid women for sex.
Greenberg later pleaded guilty to sex trafficking a minor, among other charges.
No criminal charges were ever brought against Gaetz.
The House inquiry included interviews with witnesses from the federal probe. New details about the committee’s work emerged following Gaetz’s nomination.
Joel Leppard, a lawyer representing two women who testified over the summer in front of the committee, shared new details about the damning evidence his clients gave.
The attorney said their testimony included claims that one of the women saw Gaetz have sex with the 17-year-old girl, which he vehemently denies. “My client testified to the House Ethics Committee that she witnessed Matt Gaetz having sex with a minor,” Leppard told ABC.
Leppard also told the network that the women testified that Gaetz paid them to cross state lines in January 2018 and have sex with him on at least two occasions.
A bombshell document from the Justice Department investigation also alleged a web of payments between the former congressman and friends and associates said to have been with him at drug-fueled sex parties.
The document alleges that Gaetz and associates, including Greenberg, sent thousands of dollars by Venmo and PayPal to women who were reportedly involved in the sex parties between 2017 and 2020.
Separately, former Trump administration aide Cassidy Hutchinson claimed in a memoir Gaetz groped her on two occasions and tried to make a pass at her at Camp David. Gaetz has also denied those allegations but claimed the pair had once dated, which Hutchinson denies.
Despite maintaining his innocence in all matters, Gaetz ultimately bowed to the pressure and announced he would not seek the nomination to be attorney general, writing online that the media storm around the announcement was “unfairly becoming a distraction to the critical work of the Trump/Vance Transition.”
“There is no time to waste on a needlessly protracted Washington scuffle, thus I’ll be withdrawing my name from consideration to serve as Attorney General. Trump’s DOJ must be in place and ready on Day 1,” he wrote in a post on X.
Gaetz’s wife Ginger Gaetz called his decision “the end of an era,” and wrote that “no one loves America more than this guy.”
On December 18, as news emerged that the House Ethics committee had secretly voted to release its report, Gaetz admitted to have “probably partied, womanized, drank and smoked more than I should have earlier in life” as he blasted the committee’s decision.
“In my single days, I often sent funds to women I dated - even some I never dated but who asked. I dated several of these women for years,” he wroteon X. “I NEVER had sexual contact with someone under 18. Any claim that I have would be destroyed in court — which is why no such claim was ever made in court.”
The 42-year-old Republican said his 30s involve “working very hard —and playing hard too.”
“It’s embarrassing, though not criminal, that I probably partied, womanized, drank and smoked more than I should have earlier in life,” he said at the time. “I live a different life now.”
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