U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Florida) hears testimony at a U.S. House Judiciary Committee hearing titled “Undue Influence: High Court Operations and Political Activities at SCOTUS,” and hears testimony from former anti-abortion leaders. Pastor Robert Schenck is investigating the allegations, which he was made aware of in advance. December 8, 2022 on the outcome of a major 2014 U.S. Supreme Court case on contraceptives authored by conservative Justice Samuel Alito at the U.S. Capitol in Washington.
Evelyn HochsteinReuter
of House Ethics Committee On Monday, former Republican congressman Matt Gaetz revealed that he had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl in 2017 and that he “regularly” paid the women for sex while he was in Congress. He announced that he had found “evidence.”
The panel is final report A years-long investigation into Gates also found that he used illegal drugs, including cocaine and ecstasy, on multiple occasions between 2017 and 2019.
Gaetz also received gifts “in excess of allowable amounts,” including a trip to the Bahamas in 2018, the bipartisan commission concluded.
“Congressman Gaetz has engaged in conduct that brings the House of Representatives into disrepute,” the report said.
The committee said Congressman Gaetz “complied with the rules of the House, state and federal law, and other standards of conduct that prohibit prostitution, statutory rape, illegal drug use, accepting impermissible gifts, providing special favors or privileges, and interfering with interference.” It said it had found “substantial evidence of violations.” of parliament. ”
However, it did not find sufficient evidence that Gates violated federal sex trafficking laws.
Gates’ lawyer did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment on this report.
Hours before the long-awaited report was released, Gaetz asked a federal judge to issue a ruling. temporary restraining order That would block that release.
The Ethics Commission’s report, the final product of an investigation that began in 2021, was at the center of the latest heated controversy surrounding the former Florida lawmaker.
Gaetz, 42, resigned from Congress in mid-November, shortly after President-elect Donald Trump selected him to be U.S. attorney general. Mr. Trump’s selection to head the Justice Department immediately drew an outcry from critics, and if confirmed, Mr. Gates would head the agency that previously investigated Mr. Trump on sex trafficking charges. I immediately pointed it out.
The Justice Department closed its investigation without filing criminal charges. But while the Justice Department’s claims were developed, the Ethics Commission paused its own efforts and reauthorized the investigation in May 2023.
When Gaetz left Congress, Republicans, including Ethics Committee Chairman Rep. Michael Guest (R-Mississippi), said Gaetz was no longer under the committee’s purview and the report was released. I questioned whether or not.
news organization reported Gaetz’s resignation comes just two days before the Ethics Committee is scheduled to vote to release its report. The committee, which is evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans, stalled on whether to share the report, even though Gaetz is no longer a lawmaker.
However, in a secret vote in early December, the committee decided that the report should be made public.
Gaetz withdrew his candidacy for attorney general just eight days after Trump nominated him, saying he was “unreasonably interfering” with the Republican president-elect’s transition efforts. He denied all wrongdoing.
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