The House Ethics Committee found “substantial evidence” that former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) committed several crimes, including the statutory rape of a 17-year-old girl.

The 37-page report states 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.”

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The draft report obtained by several news outlets reportedly includes testimony from witnesses admitting Gaetz paid them for sex, as well as evidence of the misconduct through both texts and Venmo and PayPal receipts.

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“From 2017 to 2020, Representative Gaetz made tens of thousands of dollars in payments to women that the Committee determined were likely in connection with sexual activity and/or drug use,” the report states, adding that the payments spanned 12 different women and exceeded $90,000, as reported by CBS News.

The report also details that Gaetz had paid for sex twice with a 17-year-old, who it refers to as “Victim A.”

“Victim A recalled receiving $400 in cash from Representative Gaetz that evening, which she understood to be payment for sex,” it says. “Victim A said that she did not inform Representative Gaetz that she was under 18 at the time, nor did he ask her age.”

The committee also detailed extensive drug use by Gaetz, as well as his propensity for drug-fueled parties. While the women who testified said all of the encounters were consensual, one said the number of drugs involved could have “impair[ed their] ability to really know what was going on or fully consent.”

The committee did not find Gaetz guilty of violating federal sex trafficking laws, though, since any women he transported across state lines for sex were over 18 at the time.

It was initially believed the report would not be released after Donald Trump nominated Gaetz for attorney general and Gaetz subsequently resigned from the House of Representatives (he has since withdrawn from the nomination in the wake of the controversy surrounding him). It’s rare for the House Ethics Committee to release an ethics report after a member has left Congress, but the Ethics Committee held a secret vote to release the report anyway.

Gaetz reportedly filed a lawsuit this morning to block the report’s release, arguing that he is now a private citizen and thus not under the committee’s jurisdiction.

Shortly after he was nominated for attorney general, 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.

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 report’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 continued. “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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