Matt Gaetz was charged by the House Ethics Committee on Monday with “regularly” paying for gender, including with a 17-year-old woman, and using and buying illegal drugs while the Florida Republican was a member of Congress. Gaetz has denied all crime. The 37-page review by the republican section includes explicit information of sex-filled celebrations and vacations that Gaetz, then 42, took part in from 2017 to 2020 while representing Florida’s eastern north. Studies indicate that while in office, he violated a number of state laws that relate to sexual misconduct. ” The Committee determined there is considerable evidence that Representative Gaetz violated House Rules and different standards of conduct prohibiting adultery, legal assault, illicit drug use, illegal donations, special favors or privileges, and restriction of Congress”, the document states. The report completes a roughly five-year research into Gaetz, who spent the majority of his time in scandal-heavy Washington, which eventually caused President-elect Donald Trump to reject his election as attorney general. Although Gaetz just indicated that he would be interested in running for the empty Senate seats in Florida, his political future is uncertain. The report’s long-awaited release comes after at least one Democratic and all five Democrats on the screen earlier this month in a key vote to release it about their past colleague despite first opposition from GOP lawmakers, including House Speaker Mike Johnson, who previously opposed the release of findings about a past member of Congress. While ethics reports have previously been released after a member’s resignation, it is extremely rare. Gaetz objected to its release, saying last week that as a former House member, he would have” no opportunity to debate or rebut” the findings. On Monday, Gaetz filed a lawsuit seeking to block the release of the report, which he says contains “untruthful and defamatory information” that would” significantly damage” his” standing and reputation in the community”. Gaetz’s complaint argues he’s no longer under the committee’s jurisdiction since he resigned from Congress. In their request for a temporary restraining order, Gaetz’s attorneys wrote in their request for a temporary restraining order that the Committee’s decision to publish potentially defamatory findings about a private citizen over whom it claims no jurisdiction represents an unprecedented expansion of Congressional power that threatens fundamental constitutional rights and established procedural protections. In addition to soliciting prostitution, the Ethics Committee report states that Gaetz “accepted gifts, including transportation and lodging in connection with a 2018 trip to the Bahamas, in excess of permissible amounts” .1: 32
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Investigators claim that in the same year, he allegedly requested the services of his chief of staff to obtain a passport for a woman he had sex with while fabricating a false statement to the State Department that she was his constituent. One of the committee’s final pieces of” substantial evidence” revealed that Gaetz “intentionally and willfully sought to obstruct” the report. The report contains dozens of pages of exhibits, including text messages and financial records, travel receipts, checks and online payments among various people involved. In some of the text exchanges, Gaetz appears to be inviting various women to events, getaways or parties, and arranging airplane travel and lodging. He occasionally inquires about a woman’s ability to wear a” cute black dress.” There are also discussions of shipping containers. A text exchange appears to be occurring between two of the women concerned about their cash and payments in one of the exhibits. In another, a person asks Gaetz for help to pay an educational expense. Since 2021, the frequently secretive, bipartisan panel has been looking into allegations made against Gaetz. However, its work increased significantly last month when Trump chose him shortly after Election Day as his first choice for the top law enforcement officer in the country. Gaetz resigned from Congress that same day, putting him outside the purview of the Ethics Committee’s jurisdiction. However, even after Gaetz resigned as Trump’s nominee for the Justice Department, Democrats had pressed to make the report public. All but one Republican voted against the report’s release in a vote held on the House floor this month. &, copy 2024 The Canadian Press
