A long-awaited report from former Republican US Rep. Matt Gaetz is expected to be released on Monday.
It comes on the heels of a House Ethics Committee investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct and illicit drug use by Gaetz, who was briefly nominated to hold a senior position in President-elect Donald Trump's Cabinet.
The draft report I reviewed BBC partner in the US is CBS News — described as a final version — There is said to be “substantial evidence” that Gaetz violated state laws on sexual misconduct while in office.
Gaetz, 42, has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, saying he is the victim of a smear campaign. He did not comment on the latest developments.
“The committee determined that there is substantial evidence that Rep. Gaetz violated the House Rules and other standards of conduct prohibiting prostitution, rape, illicit drug use, and impermissible gifts,” the 37-page draft seen by CBS was quoted as saying. and special services or privileges.” and obstructing Congress.”
From 2017 to 2020, Gaetz made payments totaling more than $90,000 (£72,000) to 12 different women who the panel “determined were likely related to sexual activity and/or drug use,” CB reported. S about the draft.
The draft also reportedly contains testimony that Gaetz paid for sex with a 17-year-old girl at a party in 2017, giving her $400 “which she understood to be money for sex.” Gaetz denied having sex with a minor.
The Department of Justice (DoJ) — which Trump initially planned for Gates to lead — also investigated an allegation that he had sex with a minor, but ultimately brought no criminal charges against him.
Gaetz represented Florida's first congressional district in the US House of Representatives, after he came to power in the same 2016 elections that pushed his ally Trump to the White House for the first time.
He was selected last month as Trump's nominee for the Department of Justice. Gaetz immediately resigned from Congress, apparently putting him beyond the reach of the Ethics Committee.
But a fierce debate erupted over whether the report should be published or not. Gaetz then withdrew his name from the list of nominees for the Justice Department job, saying he hoped to avoid “a needless, protracted fight in Washington.”
Gaetz's scheduled role as attorney general was one that would require the approval of US senators — something that seemed increasingly unlikely.
The secretive ethics committee has investigated Gaetz intermittently since 2021, not only over sex and drug allegations, but also over allegations that he accepted bribes and misused campaign funds. In all cases, he strongly denied any wrongdoing.
House Republicans previously blocked Democratic efforts to release the report's findings, but two of them later voted to do so, according to CBS.
Responding last week to news that the document would be released after all, Gaetz posted on X: “I wasn't accused of anything: I was completely acquitted. Not even a campaign finance violation. And the people investigating me hated me.”
“Instead, the House Ethics Committee will publish a report online that I have no opportunity to discuss or refute as a former member of the panel,” he added.
Gaetz also wrote: “It is embarrassing, though not criminal, that I may have been partying, womanizing, drinking and smoking too much earlier in my life. I live a different life now.”