The House Ethics Committee's scathing report released Monday concludes one of the most extensive investigations into the conduct of former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Florida), with the headline: Gaetz. The investigation found that he had committed illegal acts by paying a 17-year-old high school student for sex. Drugs such as cocaine and ecstasy.
The report accuses Gaetz of abusing his office for personal gain and disputes the facts surrounding a 2017 party where Gaetz allegedly had sexual relations with a 17-year-old woman. text messages between Gaetz and multiple women have been revealed. It documented references to drugs and unsuccessful attempts to obtain new information from the Justice Department.
Gates has strongly denied any wrongdoing.
“These claims will be thrown out in court, which is why no claims were made against me in any court,” Gaetz told The Hill on Monday ahead of the report's release.
Here are some highlights from the report.
New accusations of using office for personal favors
The report alleges that in 2018, Gaetz arranged for his chief of staff to help obtain a passport for a woman he had sex with and falsely declared to the State Department that she was a voter.
Many of the allegations detailed in the committee's findings have been reported for years, but the allegation that Gaetz fraudulently used his office to obtain passports for women is new. It is.
According to the report, after Gaetz met the woman through his former friend Joel Greenberg and had a sexual relationship with her, the woman (who did not know Gaetz was a congressman at the time) told her about his next trip. He reportedly told her that he needed a new passport for his business. . Mr. Gaetz then connected the women to his chief of staff, who worked with the State Department to help them secure passports through the voter process. However, the woman did not live in Gaetz's congressional district.
The report noted that the chief of staff is currently not employed by Gates as his office investigates the matter and has not responded to the committee.
Committee finds 'Victim A' more trustworthy than Gaetz's allies
The report found probable cause to believe that Congressman Gaetz had sexual contact with a 17-year-old boy, identified as Victim A, at a party on July 15, 2017, when Congressman Gaetz was 35 years old.
But Gates maintained that the encounter never happened and used other witnesses who disputed portions of his testimony as a means of discrediting his core findings.
The alleged encounter took place at the home of former Florida Congressman Chris Dorworth. It was based on testimony from Victim A, two other women, and a sworn response from Gaetz's former friend Joel Greenberg. He is currently in prison on charges of sex trafficking of minors and fraud, and cooperated with the Department of Justice in matters. Part of the plea bargain. Victim A said she was “confident” about her encounter with Gates that night.
Victim A testified that Dorworth was at the party, but Dorworth testified before the committee that he was not there and used that claim to accuse Victim A of lying about Gaetz as well. did.
Mr. Dorworth sued Mr. Greenberg and several others separately in federal court for defamation in connection with the allegations. say online He said he was told that Victim A was planning to sue for millions of dollars. According to the report, he settled with Victim A on an agreement where no funds were exchanged. He dropped another lawsuit against Greenberg.
monday gates I shared a thread with X Dorworth again claimed he was not at the party and used this as a means to discredit the entire report.
“This is why they didn't present these claims in a forum where they could challenge them,” Gaetz said.
But the committee clearly did not believe Dorworth's claims outweighed those of the alleged victim, explaining that Dorworth could not explain the cell phone data that had punctured his testimony.
“Following the Commission's interview and settlement of the case against Victim A, Mr. Dorworth was removed from office and confronted with cell phone records showing that he was actually at his home during the party.” “We don't have an answer to that question,” the report said.
The committee did not publish the full text of Victim A's testimony, but included some of it in footnotes. “I wasn't that drunk when the party started, and those two memories are very big in my head,” she said. When asked if it was possible that she had incorrectly remembered whether she had sex with Gates when she was 17, Victim A answered “no.”
Victim A also claimed to the committee that she saw Greenberg having sex with Gates at someone else's house when she was 17 years old, but she did not remember what happened and that she saw Greenberg having sex with Gates at another person's house. He said he had a “vague memory” of the occasion.
A screenshot of the text message shows Gates asking the women to bring “party favors.”
The Ethics Commission released screenshots of text messages between Gaetz and two women who paid for him to travel to New York City in January 2019.
Mr. Gates instructed the women to book tickets on Spirit and Delta Airlines, but one of the women asked, “So you're going to fly into Newark and then out of New York?”
In the ensuing exchange, Gates asked:[with] What about party favors? ” According to the committee, it was an inquiry regarding the availability of drugs prior to travel.
The committee also cited interviews with one of the women and said it had “received evidence that Congressman Gaetz sent money to women in exchange for sexual acts he engaged in with them during his travels.” said.
The Department of Justice did not cooperate.
The Ethics Commission's report said the Justice Department had reportedly investigated Gates for sex trafficking of a 17-year-old, but declined to charge him with the crime and refused to submit the commission's request for information. He repeatedly pointed out that he did not fully cooperate with the government.
The Ethics Committee sought statements made to the Justice Department by women accused of involvement by Gates, and found that many of the women did not want to testify further and wanted to “relive their experiences.” First, he said he was concerned about further testimony given the lack of Justice Department. of action.
“The Department of Justice has internal policies regarding the protection of non-prosecution targets like Congressman Gaetz, and general concerns about how cooperation with the Department's committees could deter other victims on other matters.” , cited a variety of inadequate policies regarding Congressional oversight of the Department of Justice itself,” the report states.
The committee said it had submitted Freedom of Information Act requests to relevant Justice Department offices, but that they had “not been properly processed.”
It also issued a subpoena to the Department of Justice, but despite some back and forth, the Justice Department did not fully comply.
“The Department of Justice has finally provided publicly reported information regarding the testimony of deceased individuals.To date, the Department of Justice has not provided meaningful evidence or information to the Committee, and has not provided any meaningful evidence or information to the Committee regarding its response. Nor does it cite any legal basis,” the ethics report states.
The committee said it also investigated whether Gaetz attempted to falsify witness testimony in connection with the Justice Department investigation.
“The Department of Justice has refused to provide a copy of an audio recording in which Congressman Gates discusses the Department's investigation with one of the women he paid for sex,” the report states.
