Authored by Jacob Burg via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),
The House Ethics Committee unveiled its report into the past conduct of former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) on Dec. 23 after he filed a lawsuit in federal court to block its release.
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) attends the second day of the 2024 Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wis., on July 16, 2024. Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty ImagesThe report said it found “substantial evidence” that the former congressman violated House rules, Florida state laws, and federal laws.
The report alleges that Gaetz paid tens of thousands of dollars to women for drugs or sex in at least 20 instances, including paying a 17-year-old girl for sex in 2017.
“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,” panel investigators wrote.
After resigning from Congress last month following his nomination by President-elect Donald Trump for U.S. attorney general, Gaetz on Dec. 23 filed the lawsuit, which asks the judge to issue an emergency order to block the committee from releasing the report.
Now that Gaetz has resigned from Congress, he argued in the lawsuit that the House Ethics Committee is reaching beyond its constitutional authority because it lacks jurisdiction over him as a private citizen. His attorneys maintain the report includes “untruthful and defamatory information” that could “significantly damage” Gaetz’s standing and reputation.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Washington, names the Ethics Committee and its chair, Rep. Michael Guest (R-Miss.), as defendants.
“The Committee’s apparent intention to release its report after explicitly acknowledging it lacks jurisdiction over former members, its failure to follow constitutional notions of due process, and failure to adhere to its own procedural rules and precedent represents an unprecedented overreach that threatens fundamental constitutional rights and established procedural protections,” Gaetz’s attorneys wrote.
The Epoch Times contacted the House Ethics Committee and Guest for comment. The ethics committee declined to comment.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
Meanwhile, Gaetz has taken to X to defend himself:
Giving funds to someone you are dating - that they didn’t ask for - and that isn’t “charged” for sex is now prostitution?!?
— Matt Gaetz (@mattgaetz) December 23, 2024
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
ANOTHER ONE of the ethics witnesses who was an alleged “prostitute” claims she was indeed NOT when actually pressed in a deposition.
— Matt Gaetz (@mattgaetz) December 23, 2024
This won’t be in the “ethics” report because of course. pic.twitter.com/SpZDPitbRp
MORE TESTIMONY you won’t see in the “ethics” report.
— Matt Gaetz (@mattgaetz) December 23, 2024
This is clearly not prostitution under any conceivable definition.
Which is why I was never charged with a crime! pic.twitter.com/PpsVpeR3Sp
This is the trafficking “victim” claiming under oath that this characterization is false. pic.twitter.com/fwRFBAcrWI
— Matt Gaetz (@mattgaetz) December 23, 2024
Just reminding everyone, Bill Clinton “likes them young.”
— Gunther Eagleman™ (@GuntherEagleman) December 23, 2024
He has appeared on The View, every major news station, and was a talking head for the Harris campaign.
Remember this as they tell you how bad they think Gaetz is. pic.twitter.com/16P7Clio7y
Now that the “Ethics Committee” has decided to release the Matt Gaetz report…
— Gunther Eagleman™ (@GuntherEagleman) December 23, 2024
Can we get an expeditious release of the $17,000,000 Congressional Slush fund that pays off the victims of s*xual misconduct?
Thomas Massie brought this to light earlier this year. pic.twitter.com/4GUIt1tInM
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