The bipartisan House Ethics Committee is expected to lay out serious charges against the former lawmaker. Matt GaetzWriting in a draft report obtained by ABC News, the commission found “substantial evidence” that he had sex with a 17-year-old in 2017, in violation of Florida’s rape laws, and was involved in a broader pattern of paying women for sex. .
The commission’s draft report also detailed evidence of illegal drug use, accepting improper gifts, giving special favors to personal associates and obstruction after Gaetz refused to comply with subpoenas and withheld evidence from the commission.
A woman testified in Gaetz’s committee Having sex with him in 2017When he was 17 years old and had just finished his first year of high school. Identified only as “Victim A” in the draft report, the woman told investigators she received $400 in cash that evening from the then-congressman, “which she understood to be payment for sex,” according to the report.
Gaetz filed a lawsuit Monday against the Ethics Commission in an effort to get the commission to release its report.
“This action challenges the Commission’s unconstitutional and ultra vires attempt to exercise jurisdiction over a private citizen through the threat of an investigative report that may contain defamatory allegations,” Gaetz said.
In the filing, Gaetz is asking the judge to grant a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction to block the release of the report or findings, which he says would cause “immediate and severe damage to his reputation and professional standing.” “
“The threat of information that a congressional committee deems to be defamatory regarding sexual propriety and other acts of alleged moral repugnance constitutes irreparable harm that cannot be adequately remedied by monetary damages,” the filing states.
Former Congressman Matt Gaetz speaks before a visit by US President-elect Donald Trump at the AmericaFest 2024 conference in Phoenix, Arizona on December 22, 2024.
Cheney Page/Reuters
Gaetzen’s lawsuit notes that he is now a public citizen, and says he did not receive “adequate notice” of the report’s upcoming release.
“After Plaintiff resigned from Congress, Defendants continued to improperly conduct his investigation, and apparently voted to publicly release reports and/or investigative materials related to the complaint without or without proper notice to Plaintiff,” the complaint states.
Gaetz has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing. Department of Justice he refused to pay last year, after a long year of similar allegations.
As the commission announced it would release its report last week, Gaetz took to X a long messagein part, that when he was single he “often sent money to women” for dates and that he “never had sex with anyone under the age of 18”.
“It’s a shame, even if I’m not a criminal, I’ve probably been partying, womanizing, drinking and smoking in my previous life. I’m living a different life now,” he posted. “I’ve never been charged. I’ve never been sued. Instead, House Ethics has announced that it will publish a report online that I have no opportunity to dispute or rebut as a former member of the body.”
President-elect Donald Trump tapped Gaetz to be attorney general in the incoming administration last month, and Gaetz resigned his congressional seat shortly thereafter. But then Gaetz removed his name considering that his confirmation process was “becoming an unfair distraction from the critical work of the Trump/Vance Transition.”
The Ethics Commission was in the final stages of its investigation into Gaetz when Trump named him as attorney general. The commission generally drops investigations of members if they leave office, but Gaetz’s resignation triggered it. heated debate On Capitol Hill, the panel debated whether to release its report to allow the Senate to fulfill its role of vetting presidential nominations.
Committee at the beginning he voted against Sources said the report was released before it changed course.
