Gaetz ethics report in limbo as sex allegations emerge

What happened

Two women testified to the House Ethics Committee that former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) paid them for sex at drug-fueled house parties, and one of them saw Gaetz have sex with a minor, a lawyer for the women told multiple news organizations Monday.

Gaetz quit the House last week after President-elect Donald Trump picked him to be the next attorney general, ending the multiyear congressional ethics investigation.

Who said what

Attorney Joel Leppard told ABC News one of his clients testified that "in July of 2017, at this house party, she was walking out to the pool area, and she looked to her right, and she saw Rep. Gaetz having sex with her friend, who was 17." His client believed Gaetz did not know the friend was a minor, and when he learned, he quit having sex with her "until she turned 18," Leppard added.

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Gaetz paid the women for "sexual favors" at "numerous events" through 2019, Leppard said to CNN, usually via Venmo or PayPal. The former minor also testified before the Ethics Committee, and her lawyer John Clune said she supported the public release of the report. "She was a high school student, and there were witnesses," Clune said on X. Gaetz "has specifically denied ever having sex with a minor or paying for sex," CNN said.

The choice of Gaetz to lead the Justice Department was "met with shock and pushback among a faction of Senate Republicans," several of whom "raised doubts" he could get 50 votes for confirmation, The Washington Post said. Trump has privately admitted that Gaetz "has less than even odds of being confirmed," said The New York Times, but he has been personally pressuring GOP senators to support Gaetz and "remains confident" that even if the former congressman "does not make it, the standard for an acceptable candidate will have shifted so much that the Senate may simply approve his other nominees who have appalled much of Washington."

What next?

The Ethics Committee is scheduled to meet privately on Wednesday to discuss releasing the Gaetz report, which would require a majority of the 10-member panel. But "even if they elect not to release it," Politico said, "that might not be the end of the road."