Gaetz paid ‘tens of thousands’ for sex and drugs, ethics report says
ReutersFormer Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz spent tens of thousands of dollars on sex and drugs while he was a U.S. congressman, according to a long-awaited report from the House Ethics Committee.
It follows a years-long investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct and illegal drug use by Gates, who is wanted by President-elect Donald Trump to serve as the nation’s top law enforcer.
The committee also found evidence that Gates, 42, accepted gifts exceeding the allowed amount during a 2018 trip to the Bahamas.
The former congressman has repeatedly denied wrongdoing and said he was the victim of a smear campaign. Amid the controversy, he withdrew from consideration to serve as U.S. attorney general.
The congressional ethics report found “substantial evidence that Representative Gates violated House rules and other standards of conduct prohibiting prostitution, statutory rape, illegal drug use, impermissible gifts, special favors or privileges, and obstruction of Congress.”
The report found that from 2017 to 2020, Gates made payments totaling more than $90,000 (£72,000) to 12 different women “who the committee believed may be related to sexual activity and/or drug use.”
Additionally, the report contains testimony that Gates had sex with a 17-year-old girl at a party in 2017 and gave her $400 “which she believed was payment for sex.” Gates has denied having sex with minors.
The Justice Department also investigated allegations that he had sex with a minor, but ultimately did not bring any criminal charges against him.
In a last-minute court filing on Monday, Gates sought a temporary restraining order to block the release of the report. He accused the Ethics Commission of trying to assert jurisdiction over private citizens.
The committee’s 42-page report accused Gates of being “uncooperative” throughout the review process and that he frequently “diverted, blocked or misled” the panel “to prevent his conduct from being exposed.”
Despite receiving a subpoena, he never testified.
Gates, who represents Florida’s 1st Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives, came to power in the same 2016 election that first propelled his ally Trump into the White House.
Gates married his current wife, Ginger, in 2021, and Ginger has supported the former Florida congressman as he faced charges.
She posted a photo of her husband on
gates The committee was not believed to be able to intervene after he resigned from Congress last month after being nominated by Trump to serve as attorney general, the top U.S. law enforcement official who leads the Justice Department.
Trump chose Gates in part because he is a fierce loyalist who has also promised to challenge what supporters see as a “weaponized” legal system against Trump.
He has been one of Trump’s staunchest defenders on Capitol Hill. But many Republicans in Congress, including those responsible for voting on such nominations, were alarmed by the choice and successfully challenged it.
Gates withdrew amid controversy just eight days after being nominated by Trump. Trump subsequently named former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi as his attorney general nominee.
Trump has yet to comment on the report’s findings.
While it is unusual for the committee to release its findings after a councilor has left office, the report noted that a “majority” of members believed it was in the public interest to do so in this case.
The question of whether the report should be released has sparked fierce debate, especially after Gates stepped down from consideration for the top Justice Department job.
He said he wanted to avoid “an unnecessary protracted melee in Washington.”
Gates’ intended post as attorney general is one of those that requires confirmation from a U.S. senator, but he doesn’t appear to have the support he needs.
The secretive ethics committee has investigated Gates on and off since 2021 — not just into sex and drug allegations, but also into allegations that he accepted bribes and misused campaign funds. In all cases, he has vehemently denied any wrongdoing.
House Republicans previously blocked Democratic efforts to release the report’s results, but two of them later voted to do so, CBS reported.
Gates posted on X on Monday that the committee chose to release the report around Christmas “rather than in any court where I could present evidence and challenge witnesses.”
Last week, he posted that the ethics committee planned to “post a report online that I, as a former member of the agency, would not have the opportunity to debate or rebut.”
In a post on X, he admitted that his 30s were a time of “work very hard – and play hard.”
“While not a crime, I am embarrassed that I probably partyed, womanized, drank and smoked more than I should have in my early years,” he wrote. “I live a different life now.”
Several House Democrats criticized their former colleagues and Trump for choosing him as an ally.
Rep. Glenn Ivey, one of the five Democrats on the Ethics Committee, said the allegations against Gaetz showed a pattern by Trump of not “putting people in those positions who can actually do the job.”
“President-elect Trump should think twice before nominating Matt Gaetz and some of the other nominations he’s made, and I think those nominations deserve reconsideration as well,” he told BBC America partner CBS News.
After leaving Congress, Gates signed a deal to become an anchor for OAN. He will join the conservative news network in January.
He also started selling personalized video messages on the video platform Cameo.
