The House ethics committee report on Matt Gaetz, the former Florida Republican congressman who was Trump’s first pick for attorney general until he withdrew his nomination, has found “substantial evidence” for allegations including that he regularly paid for sex and violated Florida’s statutory rape law.
Gaetz denies all of the allegations.
Here are the key findings from the report:
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1. From 2017 to 2020 Gaetz ‘regularly paid women for engaging in sexual activity with him’
The committee found that between 2017 and 2020, Gaetz paid tens of thousands of dollars to women “likely in connection with sexual activity and/or drug use”. He paid the women using through online services such as PayPal, Venmo, and CashApp and with cash or check, the committee said.
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2. The committee found Gaetz likely ‘violated Florida’s statutory rape law’
One woman told the panel that she had sex with Gaetz at a party in 2017, when she was 17 and that she received a $400 cash payment that she understood to be for the sex.
She testified that she did not inform Gaetz that she was under 18 at the time, nor did he ask her age. The committee said Gaetz learned she was a minor more than a month after the party in 2017 where they had sex. He met up with her for “commercial sex” again less than six months after she turned 18, according to the report.
The report concluded that the encounter likely violated Florida state law on statutory rape because Gaetz was 35 years old at the time.
Gaetz denied in a written submission to the panel that he had sex with anyone under the age of 18, but did not address the specific allegations related to “Victim A,” according to the report.
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3. The committee did not find evidence that Gaetz engaged in sex trafficking
While Gaetz was “did cause the transportation of women across state lines for purposes of commercial sex,” according to the report, “the Committee did not find sufficient evidence to conclude that Representative Gaetz violated the federal sex trafficking statute” because the individuals weren’t minors and the sexual activity did not occur through force, fraud or coercion.
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4. Gaetz ‘used or possessed’ illegal drugs
The committee found “substantial evidence” that Gaetz used marijuana, cocaine and ecstasy. Women the committee spoke with said they saw Gaetz take cocaine or “understood him to regularly be using ecstasy”.
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5. Gaetz violated the House gift rule
Gaetz “received impermissible gifts in connection with his travel to the Bahamas in September 2018”, where he accepted travel on a private plane, among other travel costs.
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6. Gaetz ‘dispensed special privileges and favors to individuals with whom he had a personal relationship’
There is substantial evidence that Gaetz “used the power of his office” to help a woman with whom he had a sexual relationship to get an expedited passport, the report says.
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7. Gaetz ‘knowingly and willfully sought to impede and obstruct the committee’s investigation’
When the committee subpoenaed Gaetz for his testimony, he failed to comply, the report says.
“Gaetz pointed to evidence that would ‘exonerate’ him yet failed to produce any such materials,” the committee said. Gaetz “continuously sought to deflect, deter, or mislead the committee in order to prevent his actions from being exposed”.
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8. Gaetz ‘acted in a manner that reflects discreditably upon the House’
The report said that while Gaetz’s obstruction of the investigation does not rise to a criminal violation it is inconsistent with the requirement that all members of Congress “act in a manner that reflects creditably upon the House”.
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