By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2024-11-15 01:36:54 | Updated at 2024-11-27 16:46:42
1 week ago
A woman reportedly testified to the House Ethics Committee that Matt Gaetz had sex with her when she was 17 years old.
Gaetz had been the subject of a yearslong House Ethics Committee probe for alleged drug use and sexual misconduct.
But he resigned from Congress on Wednesday after Donald Trump announced him as his pick for attorney general, sparking backlash.
Gaetz's resignation leaves the Ethics Committee without jurisdiction over the Florida Republican, even as the panel was set to vote on Friday on whether it would release its report on the investigation it conducted.
The committee apparently subpoenaed the woman - now in her 20s - at the center of the sex probe this summer.
She sat for multiple days of testimony where she talked about Gaetz and her having sex when she was a minor in high school, sources close to the probe told ABC News.
The accuser reportedly 'represented that she was an adult' on the website where she met Gaetz's friend Joel Greenberg, who in 2022 was sentenced to 11 years in prison for sex trafficking a minor.
'These allegations are invented and would constitute false testimony to Congress. This false smear following a three-year criminal investigation should be viewed with great skepticism,' Gaetz said in a statement.
Gaetz had been the subject of a yearslong House Ethics Committee probe for alleged drug use and sexual misconduct
It was reported in June that at least one woman has reportedly admitted to the House Ethics Committee that Gaetz paid her for sex through Venmo.
Investigators on the committee interviewed half a dozen women, according to ABC News.
The women were shown Venmo payments from the Florida Republican to them and asked if they were for sex.
The women allegedly had attended parties with Gaetz and his former friend Joel Greenberg, who in 2022 was sentenced to 11 years in prison for sex trafficking a minor.
The women allegedly had attended parties with Gaetz and his former friend Joel Greenberg, who in 2022 was sentenced to 11 years in prison for sex trafficking a minor.
Gaetz has denied all of the allegations that have long swirled around him, including paying for sex.
'Someone is trying to recategorize my generosity to ex-girlfriends as something more untoward,' he said previously.
The Ethics Committee obtained Gaetz's Venmo records through a subpoena.
Investigators on the committee have interviewed half a dozen women, according to ABC News
Gaetz's resignation leaves the Ethics Committee without jurisdiction over the Florida Republican
Rep. Michael Guest, R-Ala., the chairman of the House Ethics Committee, reiterated Thursday that he does not intend to release the report.
If the report is not released, details of the investigation could remain secret indefinitely.
The Department of Justice previously investigated Gaetz for alleged sex trafficking a minor but informed him they would not bring charges in 2023 after issues of witness credibility.
The Ethics Committee in a rare public statement at the time announced they would conduct 'further review' into Gaetz on charges that include sex abuse and illicit drug use.
Gaetz said over the summer that the committee was opening 'new frivolous investigations' into him.
Trump shockingly nominated Gaetz to be the top law enforcement official in the nation on Wednesday.
His pick of the embattled former congressman to oversee the Justice Department, FBI, DEA, ATF and related agencies has shocked Republicans and Democrats.
Now, some Republican senators who will vote on his nomination are demanding to review the House report before the 42-year-old Florida man is able to join Trump's Cabinet.
'The President's role is to make the nomination, but we need to have complete vetting of the nominees, not only so we know that the nominee is qualified, but also to protect the president,' Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said Thursday.
He 'absolutely' wants to review the House Ethics Committee's report on Gaetz's conduct.
Cornyn even floated the idea of taking legal action to review the report's contents.
'There's various ways we can glean access to it, we can subpoena it,' he told reporters. 'I don't I don't think any of us want to fly blind.'
Cornyn argued the Senate has a role in weeding out unqualified candidates during the nomination process, and that doing so protects the president from potential bad apples.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., however, doesn't think that will work, nor does he want it to happen.
When pressed on if the Senate would be able to subpoena an unreleased House ethics report Graham responded: 'I wouldn't think so.'
The South Carolinian also added he wouldn't want the House to be able to subpoena unreleased Senate reports.
