Former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) is freaking out over the fact that members of the House Ethics Committee have voted this week to release its investigative report looking into whether he engaged in sexual misconduct, used illicit drugs, shared inappropriate images on the House floor, misused campaign funds for personal reasons, accepted a bribe, committed statutory rape, and engaged in child sex trafficking.

In a statement released Wednesday, Gaetz described his past behavior as “embarrassing, though not criminal.”

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Multiple sources told CNN that the committee voted earlier this month to release the report. In early November, the committee voted along party lines not to release it. It’s unclear why Republicans on the committee changed their vote or whether the committee might vote again not to release the report. The committee will reportedly release its findings after the House finishes voting for the year, which could occur later this week.

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It’s exceedingly rare for the House Ethics Committee to release an ethics report after a member has left Congress, the aforementioned news outlet wrote. Gaetz resigned from Congress shortly after President-elect Donald Trump named Gaetz as his next pick for Attorney General.

However, shortly after he was nominated, The New York Times published a document prepared by federal investigators bolstering claims by women who said Gaetz hired them for sex. The image showed a web of payments from Gaetz and dozens of friends and associates who are said to have taken part with him in drug-fueled sex parties.

Additionally, a lawyer for two women who testified before the Ethics Committee and were questioned by the Department of Justice (DOJ) said Gaetz paid them both for sex even though one of them was underage (17) at the time.

Gaetz removed himself from consideration barely a week after Trump nominated him, writing that the scandals surrounding him had become a “distraction” to Trump’s transition into the presidency. He later announced that he’ll join the right-wing media outlet One America News Network in January.

However, upon hearing news of the investigation’s possible release, Gaetz wrote on X that he was “fully exonerated” from any allegations of criminal wrongdoing. While the DOJ didn’t seek criminal charges against him, that isn’t the same as being completely absolved of any wrongdoing — it merely means the body may not have found enough evidence to build a case against him that would prove his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

Nevertheless, Gaetz wrote, “In my single days, I often sent funds to women I dated – even some I never dated but who asked. I dated several of these women for years. I NEVER had sexual contact with someone under 18. Any claim that I have would be destroyed in court – which is why no such claim was ever made in court.”

“My 30’s were an era of working very hard – and playing hard too. It’s embarrassing, though not criminal, that I probably partied, womanized, drank and smoked more than I should have earlier in life.  I live a different life now,” he added.

“Then, the very ‘witnesses’ DOJ deemed not-credible were assembled by House Ethics to repeat their claims absent any cross-examination or challenge from me or my attorneys,” Gaetz cintunued. “I’ve had no chance to ever confront any accusers. I’ve never been charged. I’ve never been sued. Instead, House Ethics will reportedly post a report online that I have no opportunity to debate or rebut as a former member of the body.”

The allegations facing Gaetz

In 2020, the Secret Service received a tip that Gaetz was associated with a Florida county tax collector who was charged with making fake IDs to sex-traffic underage girls. The DOJ opened an investigation into Gaetz that same year, and investigators found that Gaetz would show his colleagues videos of naked and topless women on his phone as he bragged about how he was able to go to the parties held by the county tax collector, according to some witnesses.

In an attempt to get a pardon in 2020, the county tax collector wrote a letter to the Trump administration in which he confessed to paying women and girls for sex and said that he and Gaetz sexually abused a 17-year-old girl together but said that they thought she was 19. Around the same time, the DOJ was also investigating whether Gaetz paid for her to travel with him for an alleged sexual relationship with her when she was 17.

Gaetz denied the accusations and said that he was the victim of an extortion plot by an unnamed DOJ official. In strange media interviews, Gaetz claimed his father was “wearing a wire” to help officials catch the person extorting him, and he denied that there were photos of him with child prostitutes — no one accused him of that.

Gaetz’s close relationship with Joel Greenberg –  who pleaded guilty in 2021 following a DOJ probe into whether he had sex with an underage girl and introduced her to other “adult men” who also had sex with her while she was underage – put him under suspicion, as did the fact that Gaetz was the only member of Congress to vote against a bill that increased funding to fight human trafficking.

Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CO), who was House Minority Leader at the time, said that he would not remove Gaetz from his committee assignments. CNN reported that Gaetz showed pictures of naked women to his colleagues on the House floor and bragged about having sex with them in 2021.

But by 2022, the DOJ investigation into Gaetz had concluded, and prosecutors recommended not charging Gaetz in the sex trafficking investigation due to a lack of credibility of two key witnesses.

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