Former Rep. Matt Gaetz reportedly paid tens of thousands of dollars to women for sex, which included a 17-year-old in 2017, or drugs on at least 20 occasions, according to evidence found by the House Ethics Committee during its probe into allegations against him.
The bombshell final draft of the Republican-led panel's report was obtained by CNN on Monday (December 23) and accuses Gaetz, 42, of violating several Florida state laws including statutory rape.
“The Committee determined there is substantial evidence that Representative Gaetz violated House Rules and other standards of conduct prohibiting prostitution, statutory rape, illicit drug use, impermissible gifts, special favors or privileges, and obstruction of Congress,” panel investigators wrote in the final draft obtained by CNN.
Gaetz reportedly often used PayPal or Venmo to make the illegal transactions to the more than a dozen women involved, according to the report. Investigators also reportedly focused on a 2018 trip to the Bahamas in which Gaetz "violated the House gift rule" by engaging "in sexual activity" with multiple women, including one who described the trip as a "payment" for sex.
Gaetz also reportedly took ecstasy while on the Bahamas trip, according to a woman who was present at the time.
The probe was released weeks after Gaetz was announced as and later withdrew from consideration to be President-elect Donald Trump's attorney general amid backlash. Gaetz immediately resigned from Congress after being selected by Trump, which ended the House Ethics Committee investigation accusing him of engaging in sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, accepting improper gifts, dispensing special privileges and favors to those whom he had a personal relationship, and seeking to obstruct government investigations into the allegations. House Speaker Mike Johnson, a staunch ally of President-elect Trump, said the Ethics Committee has jurisdiction only over sitting members following Gaetz's cabinet appointment and Congressional resignation at the time.
“I’ve made very clear that it’s an important guardrail for our institution that we not use the House Ethics Committee to investigate and report on persons who are not members of this body,” Johnson told reporters on November 19 via NBC News. “Matt Gaetz is not a member of the body anymore."
Trump referred to Gaetz, who has vehemently denied the allegations, as a "deeply gifted and tenacious attorney" who would "end Weaponized Government, protect our Borders, dismantle Criminal Organizations and restore Americans’ badly-shattered Faith and Confidence in the Justice Department" in his announcement. On November 18, Joel Leppard, a Florida attorney representing two women who testified before the House Ethics, told ABC News that his adult clients were paid by Gaetz for sex, while one of the clients said she witnessed Gaetz having sex with a 17-year-old at a house party.
"She testified [that] in July of 2017, at this house party, she was walking out to the pool area, and she looked to her right, and she saw Representative Gaetz having sex with her friend, who was 17," Leppard said.
Leppard called for the House Ethics Committee to release its report on Gaetz after he was announced as Trump's attorney general pick, claiming the Florida Republican paid both of his clients for sex via Venmo.
"That's correct," Leppard said when asked by ABC News' Juju Chang if his clients both testified that they were paid by Gaetz for sex. "The House was very clear about that and went through each. They essentially put the Venmo payments on the screen and asked about them. And my clients repeatedly testified, 'What was this payment for?' 'That was for sex."