House Ethics Committee confirms investigation into sexual misconduct and drug offenses against Matt Gaetz

The House Ethics Committee released a rare public statement on Tuesday confirming that the reopened investigation into far-right Congressman Matt Gaetz includes allegations of sexual misconduct and illegal drug use.

The 10-member, bipartisan panel first announced in April 2021 that it was investigating a series of allegations against Gaetz, 42, including accepting bribes or improper gifts, misusing government identification documents and distributing inappropriate images on the House floor.

The House investigation was later paused while the Justice Department investigated Gaetz, a Florida Republican, but was resumed in May of last year after the administration declined to prosecute the congressman.

“There has been a significant and unusual amount of public reporting on the committee’s activities during this Congress. Many of these reports have been inaccurate,” the committee said in its statement.

The panel further noted that despite “difficulties in obtaining relevant information from Representative Gaetz and others,” it had “spoken with more than a dozen witnesses, issued 25 subpoenas, and reviewed thousands of pages of documents related to this matter.”

In addition to the sex and drug-related allegations, the committee says it is also investigating allegations that Gaetz “accepted improper gifts, granted special privileges and favors to individuals with whom he had a personal relationship, and attempted to obstruct government investigations into his conduct.”

Gaetz had sharply attacked the committee on Monday and accused it of initiating “new, futile investigations” against him.

At the heart of the federal investigation into Gaetz, which began in 2020, was the congressman’s alleged relationship with a 17-year-old girl several years earlier – and allegations that he paid for her to travel across state lines for sex.

Former Seminole County Tax Commissioner Joel Greenberg, a friend of Gaetz, entered into a plea deal in May 2021 admitting to recruiting women – at least one of whom was a minor – for commercial sex acts between 2016 and 2018 and paying them more than $70,000.

Greenberg reportedly introduced Gaetz to the then 17-year-old, but federal investigators were reportedly unable to determine whether she was of legal age when her alleged relationship with the politician began.

The Ethics Committee announced Tuesday that it was no longer investigating whether Gaetz accepted bribes, misused government identification documents, displayed inappropriate images in the House of Representatives or improperly used campaign funds for personal purposes.

In October, Gaetz made headlines after he and seven other Republicans, with the help of 208 Democrats, ousted House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.).

McCarthy has since claimed that the insurrection was motivated by Gaetz’s desire for the then-speaker to intervene in the ethics investigation, but the Florida congressman categorically denied this.

“The House Ethics Committee has closed four investigations into me based on lies designed solely to defame me. Instead of working with me to ban stock trading in Congress, the Ethics Committee is now launching new, frivolous investigations,” Gaetz posted on X on Monday.

“They’re doing this to avoid the obvious fact that any investigation against me ends the same way: my exoneration. That’s Soviet. Kevin McCarthy showed them the man, and now they’re trying to figure out the crime.”

Gaetz, who represents the western panhandle region of Florida, faces a primary challenge from former naval aviator Aaron Dimmock on August 20.

Dimmock has repeatedly raised Gaetz’s ethical concerns during his campaign.