As expected, the House Ethics Committee has now released its report on former Congressman Matt Gaetz (FL).
There was speculation as to whether or not they would, given Gaetz’s resignation from Congress following his (since withdrawn) nomination to serve as Attorney General in the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump. But on Wednesday, the committee voted to release it, despite objections to their doing so not only by Gaetz himself but by House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and other Republicans.
About Face: House Ethics Committee Changes Mind on Gaetz Report
NEW: There’s Even More to Matt Gaetz’s Pistol-Packing Response to Release of Ethics Report
Gaetz ethics report is out: https://t.co/gO5vQkaVOG
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) December 23, 2024
The report includes allegations that have largely already been publicized.
The House Ethics Committee gathered evidence that former Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida paid multiple women for sex, including a 17-year-old high school junior, used illegal drugs like cocaine and ecstasy and obstructed efforts by Congress to investigate his conduct, according to a draft of its findings obtained by Just the News.
“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,” stated the draft of the report slated to be released this week.
The draft report also said it did not find evidence that Gaetz had engaged in sex trafficking as some had alleged, concluding that all the women who traveled with Gaetz out of their home states did so voluntarily even if they accepted payments for sex.
…
The draft mentions the committee voted to adopt the findings on Dec. 10 and includes a dissent from the committee’s chairman objecting to its planned public release. Two sources confirmed the authenticity of the draft but cautioned the final version released to the public could have some changes, such as redactions.
Gaetz has steadfastly denied the allegation that he engaged in sexual activity with anyone under the age of 18 and, as one might expect, has come out swinging regarding the release of the report, taking to X to highlight numerous issues with it:
Giving funds to someone you are dating – that they didn’t ask for – and that isn’t “charged” for sex is now prostitution?!?
There is a reason they did this to me in a Christmas Eve-Eve report and not in a courtroom of any kind where I could present evidence and challenge… pic.twitter.com/HzWODpBBB9
— Matt Gaetz (@mattgaetz) December 23, 2024
ANOTHER ONE of the ethics witnesses who was an alleged “prostitute” claims she was indeed NOT when actually pressed in a deposition.
This won’t be in the “ethics” report because of course. pic.twitter.com/SpZDPitbRp
— Matt Gaetz (@mattgaetz) December 23, 2024
This is the trafficking “victim” claiming under oath that this characterization is false. pic.twitter.com/fwRFBAcrWI
— Matt Gaetz (@mattgaetz) December 23, 2024
MORE TESTIMONY you won’t see in the “ethics” report.
This is clearly not prostitution under any conceivable definition.
Which is why I was never charged with a crime! pic.twitter.com/PpsVpeR3Sp
— Matt Gaetz (@mattgaetz) December 23, 2024
“I never charged anyone anything” pic.twitter.com/UKsUriQLQa
— Matt Gaetz (@mattgaetz) December 23, 2024
In an interview with Just the News on Sunday evening, Gaetz said:
“These were some women who I dated over the course of a decade, and had relationships with at various times and that I admittedly were generous to.”
It should also be noted, as Gaetz has pointed out, that the Justice Department investigated the matter and declined to bring criminal charges against him.
Ethics Committee Chairman Michael Guest included a dissenting opinion in the report:
I write on behalf of the members of the committee who do not support the release of the report regarding former Representative Matt Gaetz. We believe and remain steadfast in the position that the House Committee on Ethics lost jurisdiction to release to the public any substantive work product regarding Mr. Gaetz after his resignation from the House on November 14, 2024.
While we do not challenge the Committee’s findings, we take great exception that themmajority deviated from the Committee’s well-established standards and voted to release a report on an individual no longer under the Committee’s jurisdiction, an action the Committee has not taken since 2006.
House Rules give the Committee jurisdiction over current Members, officers, and employees of the House. Consistent with these rules, when a member who is under investigation by the Committee leaves the House, the Committee’s standard practice is to close its investigation and make no further statement on its findings. We do not believe the rules authorize the Committee to continue or expand its jurisdiction as it sees fit. Any precedent to the contrary is extremely rare, inconsistent with the rules, and outweighed by the vast majority of matters—too numerous to list—in which the Committee took no material action after losing jurisdiction.
Representative Gaetz resigned from Congress, withdrew from consideration to serve in the next administration, and declared that he would not seek to be seated in the 119th Congress. The decision to publish a report after his resignation breaks from the Committee’s long-standing practice, opens the Committee to undue criticism, and will be viewed by some as an attempt to weaponize the Committee’s process.
We believe that operating outside the jurisdictional bounds set forth by House Rules and Committee standards, especially when making public disclosures, is a dangerous departure with potentially catastrophic consequences.
Finally, we join the views of the Committee as expressed in its December 23, 2024, public statement addressing the significant and unusual amount of public reporting on the Committee’s review of this matter. As expressed by the Committee, “[t]o the extent that any of the public reporting on this matter came from unauthorized disclosures of confidential Committee information, we strongly condemn such unauthorized disclosures, which are damaging and harmful to the Committee’s work.”
