Former Rep. Matt Gaetz, a Florida Republican who would briefly become President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for attorney general, was found by congressional ethics investigators to have paid numerous women — including a 17-year-old girl — for sex , and purchased — and used — illegal drugs, including from his Capitol Hill office, according to a final version of a lengthy investigative report obtained by CBS News.
Those were among the findings of the House Ethics Committee’s long-running investigation into Gaetz, which found that the former Florida congressman violated multiple state laws regarding sexual misconduct while in office.
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“The committee determined that there is substantial evidence that Representative Gaetz violated the House rules and other standards of conduct prohibiting prostitution, statutory rape, illegal drug use, impermissible gifts, special favors or privileges, and obstruction of Congress,” the 37-page report concludes .
Gaetz resigned from Congress in November after Trump announced plans to nominate him as attorney general. But facing opposition from some fellow Republicans, Gätz withdrew a week later out of treatment. The release of the ethics report, On Monday, Gaetz’s incendiary tenure on Capitol Hill, where he became one of the most outspoken and provocative members of the pro-Trump faction in Congress, is expected to end — at least for now.
Gaetz has denied any inappropriate behavior and claimed the claims were a “smear” created by his political enemies. The committee said the congressman declined to participate in sworn testimony, although he submitted written answers to some of the committee’s questions.
The report gives new voice to the allegations of misconduct that have circulated around Gaetz for years, despite his firm denials. It is based on testimony from witnesses who told the committee they were paid to have sex with Gaetz, text messages discussing the transactions, and Venmo and PayPal receipts.
Among the report’s most lurid findings were allegations of sex- and drug-related parties and trips, including a 2018 trip to the Bahamas where witnesses say he used 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 likely related to sexual activity and/or drug use,” said the report, which details payments totaling more than $90,000 to 12 different countries listed. women.
The committee also said it received testimony that Gaetz had sex twice with “Victim A” at a party in 2017. who was 17 years old at the time and had just completed her freshman year of high school.
“Victim A recalled receiving $400 in cash from Representative Gaetz that evening, which she believed was payment for sex,” the commission wrote. “Victim A stated that she did not inform Representative Gaetz that she was under 18 at the time, nor did she ask her age.”
In his written responses to the committee, Gaetz denied having sex with a minor. The Ministry of Justice previously investigated Gaetz for violating sex trafficking laws, but no charges have been filed. The commission said it did not find sufficient evidence that Gaetz violated the federal sex trafficking statute because although he transported women across state lines for the purpose of sex, those women were all 18 or older at the time.
The report noted that while all the women who testified said the sexual encounters with Gaetz were consensual, one woman told the committee that using drugs at the parties and events they attended “could harm sexual health from Gaetz’.[ed their] ability to really know what was going on or to fully agree with it.”
Another woman told the committee, “When I look back at certain moments, I feel violated.”
The report found “substantial evidence” that Gaetz engaged in rampant illegal drug use. The commission said it received text messages he sent in which he referred to drugs as “party favors,” “sandwiches” or “vitamins.” It 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 using illegal drugs in his written responses to the committee.
In addition to sexual misconduct and illegal drug use, the report also accused Gaetz of accepting gifts of luxury travel that exceeded legal limits during the 2018 trip to the Bahamas. And it said he arranged for his chief of staff to help a woman he had engaged in sexual acts with obtain a passport, falsely indicating to the State Department that she was one of his constituents.
Gaetz told conservative personality Charlie Kirk last month that he plans to “fight for President Trump” in the coming years.
“I think eight years is probably enough time in the United States Congress,” Gaetz said, although he raised the idea of returning to run for Speaker of the House in a post on X last week of Delegates.
The House Ethics Committee had initially voted to keep the report secret, but changed course in a secret ballot earlier this month. Two Republican members of the committee were among those who voted in favor of the release, according to two sources familiar with the vote. The committee consists of ten members, evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats.
