An investigation by the House Ethics Committee released on Monday concluded that former Representative Matt Gaetz paid several females for sex, including a 17-year-old girl, and habitually used illegal drugs over several years.
“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,” the report states.
Gaetz, a Florida Republican who resigned from office in November, was President-elect Donald Trump’s initial nominee for attorney general. Gaetz eventually withdrew his name from consideration to avoid becoming a “distraction.”
The report’s findings are based on witness testimony, text messages about the payments, and Venmo and PayPal receipts for the transactions. It details Gaetz’s alleged travel for sex and drug-fueled parties, and $90,000 of transactions he made to 12 women over several years. The committee also disclosed dozens of transactions, text messages, flight records, and other exhibits that form the basis of the report.
“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 says.
At a party in 2017, Gaetz twice had sex with “victim A,” identified in the report as a 17-year-old girl who had just finished her junior year in high school, the committee determined. Gaetz paid the girl $400, which she believed to be for sex. She told investigators that she did not tell Gaetz her age and he did not ask her about it.
Before the report’s release, Joel Leppard, an attorney for the then-minor urged the committee to publish it and alleged a witness testified to the committee about Gaetz having sex with the 17-year-old. Leppard said the witness testified that Gaetz stopped the relationship when he found out about the minor’s age.
The committee’s report alleges that Gaetz accepted gifts for luxury travel, such as a 2018 trip to the Bahamas where he had sex with multiple women and took ecstasy. Gaetz failed to disclose the Bahamas trip and other private flights on his House financial disclosure forms. The flight, lodging, and additional expenses tied to the Bahamas trip were well above House threshold for personal gifts from friends, putting Gaetz in violation of House gift rules.
Gaetz also had his then-chief of staff attempt to obtain a passport for a woman he was sexually involved, falsely representing her to the State Department as a constituent, the committee found. The woman received money from Gaetz through his associate Joel Greenberg, who is featured heavily in the report, but she said the money was for travel expenses, not the sexual encounter. In 2022, Greenberg was sentenced to 11 years in prison for sex trafficking a minor and an assortment of related offenses after pleading guilty and cooperating with federal investigators.
The congressional report lays out considerable evidence that Gaetz engaged in illicit drug use, which he denied in a written response to the committee. Two women told the committee Gaetz used cocaine and ecstasy at parties and more women believed that he regularly used ecstasy.
The report mentions what appears to be coded text messages where Gaetz used slang such as “party favors” and “vitamins” to refer to illicit substances. The committee further alleged that Gaetz created a fake email account from his congressional office to purchase marijuana.
The committee initially declined to release the report on Gaetz’s activities following his resignation. Earlier this month, the panel held a secret vote and decided to release it. To prevent its release, Gaetz filed a last-ditch lawsuit Monday against the committee and chairman Michael Guest (R., Miss.) in Washington, D.C. District Court. The lawsuit argues that releasing the congressional report violates House rules as well as his due process rights and a federal privacy law.
Gaetz has adamantly denied any wrongdoing and noted the Justice Department’s decision not to prosecute him after conducting a lengthy criminal investigation into the same allegations of sexual misconduct and illicit drug use. The committee report determined that there was not enough evidence to conclude Gaetz violated federal sex trafficking laws because the women he transported across state lines for sex were over 18 at the time.
Gaetz’s sexual encounters all appear to have been consensual, although under the influence of illicit drugs. One of the women told the panel that the drugs prevented them from being able to “fully consent” to the sexual activities.
Almost all of the witnesses failed to recall at least one detail from the events because of drug or alcohol consumption. The women also recounted instances where Gaetz and Greenberg tried to convince them to have sex and make them feel bad about not doing so. Another woman told the committee she felt “violated” looking back and recalling certain moments.
“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,” Gaetz said on X last week. “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.”
Once the report came out, Gaetz took to social media to dispute its conclusions and shared selective excerpts from witness testimony to back up his assertions. He accused the committee of failing to mention those excerpts and claimed that he was never taken to trial over the allegations because he would have been given the opportunity to challenge witnesses.
Gaetz declined to testify before the committee, instead sending written responses to some of its questions, including a denial that he engaged in sex with an underage girl. The Ethics Committee accused Gaetz of illegally obstructing the investigation and violating House ethics rules by misleading the panel during its long-running probe.
“The Committee determined that Representative Gaetz’ attempts to mislead and deter the Committee from investigating him implicated federal criminal laws relating to false statements and obstruction of Congress,” the report adds. “Even if Representative Gaetz’s obstructive conduct in this investigation did not rise to the level of a criminal violation, it was certainly inconsistent with the requirement that Members act in a manner that reflects creditably upon the House.”
The report was initially leaked to CBS News and Just the News, which published stories on it early Monday. Upon officially releasing the report hours later, the Ethics Committee issued a statement condemning “unauthorized disclosures” to the press about its investigation and suggested that some of the reporting was not accurate.
“To 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,” the statement reads.
After Trump picked him to be attorney general, Gaetz resigned from Congress to prepare for a potentially extended confirmation battle, ending his tenure in the House as an outspoken Trump ally and critic of the chamber’s GOP leadership.
The allegations contained in the committee’s report ultimately prompted Gaetz to withdraw his name from consideration for attorney general as multiple Republicans appeared hesitant to confirm him over his past behavior and policy positions.
Trump nominated former Florida attorney general Pam Bondi, a Republican, to be his attorney general after Gaetz stepped aside.