Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., speaks with a staffer before the start of the House Armed Services Committee’s “Afghanistan Update” hearing, Wednesday, May 12, 2021, in Washington.
Caroline Brayman | Chongqing Roll Call Company | Getty Images
The House Ethics Committee voted secretly to release an investigative report into allegations of sexual misconduct and illegal drug use against a former Republican congressman. Matt Gates, nbc news reported Wednesday.
Two people familiar with the matter told NBC that the report could be released as early as this weekend after the House holds its final vote on the current session of Congress and finalizes the holiday break.
Gaetz slammed the panel’s decision while again denying that he had sex with underage girls.
“Any claim I make would be destroyed in court – that’s why no such claim has ever been made in court,” he said wrote in X post.
He added, “While it’s not a crime, I’m embarrassed because I probably party more, indulge in women, drink and smoke more than I did in my early years. I live a different life now.”
The vote marks a major shift for the bipartisan ethics committee, deadlocked Gaetz resigned from Congress last month amid questions over whether to release the report.
Gates leaves House of Representatives after being elected president Donald Trump choose him to serve U.S. Attorney General. but Gates quits Less than two weeks later, his campaign was overshadowed by past accusations of sexual misconduct and other misconduct, all of which he has denied.
CNN first reported Ethics committee votes to release Gates report. A spokesman for the ethics chairman, Mississippi Republican Rep. Michael Guest, referred CNBC to a committee spokesman, who declined to comment. Rep. Susan Wild of Pennsylvania, the ranking Democrat on the Ethics Committee, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The House panel reopened the investigation into Gaetz in May 2023, which had been suspended while the Justice Department investigated sex trafficking allegations against the then-congressman.
U.S. Department of Justice closes investigation No filing fee required. The House panel’s reauthorized investigation focuses on whether Gaetz “engaged in sexual misconduct and illegal drug use, accepted inappropriate gifts, provided privileges and favors to individuals with whom he had a personal relationship, and attempted to obstruct the government’s investigation of his conduct.”
Gates strongly opposed the vote in an X post late Wednesday morning.
“The Biden/Garland Justice Department spent years reviewing charges against me for various crimes. I was not charged with anything: totally innocent. Not even a campaign finance violation. The people investigating me hated me,” he wrote.
The ethics panel “will reportedly publish a report online, stating that I, as a former member of the agency, will not have the opportunity to debate or rebut it,” Gaetz wrote.
The former congressman continued, “In my single days, I regularly sent money to women I dated — even some I never dated but who asked for it.”
“I dated several of these women for many years. I have never had sexual contact with anyone under the age of 18,” he wrote.
After Gaetz resigned from the House, Republicans, including Guest, said he was effectively outside the committee’s jurisdiction.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, had urged the panel not to release its report, saying it would set a “terrible precedent” by sharing its findings with someone who is no longer a member of Congress.
Although rare, the ethics committee has in the past released reports on members of Congress following their resignations.
It did so in 1987, issuing a report focusing on allegations of campaign misconduct by former Tennessee Democratic Rep. Bill Boner. In 2006, the committee released a report related to information about the former Rep. Mark FoleyFlorida Democratic Party, sent to the congressional page.