Topline
A House ethics report detailing allegations of sexual misconduct against former Rep. Matt Gaetz will be released before the current session of Congress ends, multiple outlets report, as the House Ethics Committee reportedly voted to make its findings public as the probe gained attention in the wake of Gaetz’s short-lived nomination for attorney general.
Key Facts
The House Ethics Committee “secretly” voted to approve the report’s release earlier this month, CNN first reported Wednesday citing anonymous sources.
The report will be released following the final day of House votes of this term, according to CNN—which is Thursday—as lawmakers return home for the holidays.
The document is expected to detail the committee’s investigation into sexual misconduct allegations against Gaetz, who has faced allegations of paying for sex, having sex with an underage 17-year-old and illicit drug use—which he has denied.
Gaetz withdrew his nomination as President-elect Donald Trump’s next attorney general as the controversy gained steam in the wake of his nomination, also resigning from Congress days before the committee was initially set to vote on the report’s release.
The committee’s decision to release the report comes as a surprise after lawmakers had initially resisted making the document public despite the public interest in the allegations, with both committee members and the full House voting not to release it.
Gaetz opposed the report’s release in a statement on X Wednesday and continued to deny the allegations against him, saying the committee “will reportedly post a report online that I have no opportunity to debate or rebut as a former member of the body” and emphasizing, “In my single days, I often sent funds to women I dated—even some I never dated but who asked” but “I NEVER had sexual contact with someone under 18.”
What Will The Report Say?
It’s still unclear what exactly the report will say, though the House Ethics Committee said in a June statement that its investigation focused on whether Gaetz “engaged in sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, accepted improper gifts, dispensed special privileges and favors to individuals with whom he had a personal relationship, and sought to obstruct government investigations of his conduct.” Joel Leppard, a lawyer for women who testified to the committee, told Politico his clients attended between five and 10 “sex parties” with Gaetz between 2017 and 2018, when the lawmaker was already in Congress, and one witnessed Gaetz “having sex with her friend,” who was underage at the time. The lawyer also told ABC News that Gaetz paid Leppard’s clients for sex, and that Gaetz broke off his alleged relationship with the 17-year-old when he learned she was underage. ABC reported Tuesday on records showing more than $10,000 in Venmo payments Gaetz paid to the two women between July 2017 and January 2019, with the women reportedly testifying that at least some of those payments were for sex. Depositions that the underage woman and a friend of hers gave as part of a separate civil lawsuit—which Gaetz was not a party in—suggest the women testified under oath that they had sex with Gaetz at a party and there were drugs at the gathering including “alcohol, cocaine, ecstasy also known as molly, and marijuana.”
Chief Critic
Gaetz has long denied the allegations against him, saying in 2021, “I have never paid for sex. I have never had sex with an underage person as an adult. I have dated women in college and graduate school, and have boasted about how great they are across the board, as boyfriends do. At times women I have dated have joined me at campaign events.” He has continued to deny the allegations as they’ve gained steam in the wake of Trump’s victory, with a spokesperson telling ABC News in response to Leppard’s allegations, “Merrick Garland’s DOJ cleared Matt Gaetz and didn’t charge him. Are you alleging Garland is part of a cover up?”
Will Gaetz Be Prosecuted?
Federal prosecutors have so far declined to indict Gaetz over the sexual misconduct allegations. The Justice Department reportedly ended its investigation into him in 2023 without bringing charges, with The Washington Post reporting prosecutors believed two central witnesses—friend Joel Greenberg and one of Gaetz’s ex-girlfriends—could have credibility issues with a jury. (Greenberg, who pleaded guilty to charges including child sex trafficking and wire fraud, was also previously charged with fabricating information about a political rival.) That’s unlikely to change now with Trump taking office—even though Gaetz is no longer in the running for attorney general—as the former congressman remains a close ally of the president-elect.
Key Background
The DOJ’s investigation into Gaetz stemmed from its probe into Greenberg, a former tax collector who was sentenced to 11 years in prison and reportedly gave law enforcement information about Gaetz. Greenberg reportedly alleged both he and the lawmaker paid women for sex—which would violate federal sex trafficking laws—as investigators reportedly probed whether Greenberg procured women for Gaetz, and multiple outlets reported in 2021 Gaetz “boasted” about women he met through Greenberg. House ethics investigators carried on the probe into the Gaetz allegations after prosecutors ended their case without bringing charges, and reports suggest the House Ethics Committee was on the cusp of voting to release its final report when Gaetz made the sudden move to resign from Congress. Gaetz’s resignation came after Trump tapped him to be the next attorney general, which ramped up the controversy over the allegations and led to an outcry from Democrats calling for the House report to be released. Gaetz’s nomination was ultimately short-lived, as Gaetz withdrew as the attorney general nominee on Nov. 21, saying, “It is clear my confirmation was unfairly becoming a distraction to the critical work of the Trump/Vance Transition.”
