House report on Gaetz finds regular paid sex, drugs

What happened

The House Ethics Committee released its report on former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) Monday, saying its yearslong investigation found "substantial evidence" he "violated House rules, state and federal laws, and other standards of conduct prohibiting prostitution, statutory rape, illicit drug use, acceptance of impermissible gifts" and other violations.

Gaetz resigned from Congress last month as the committee was preparing to release its report and President-elect Donald Trump tapped him for attorney general. He withdrew from consideration when it became clear he did not have enough Senate support for confirmation.

Who said what

Gaetz "regularly paid women for engaging in sexual activity with him" from 2017 to 2020 and possessed illegal drugs, including cocaine and ecstasy, the House investigators said. Their "most egregious allegation," however, involved Gaetz having sex with a 17-year-old, Politico said. Gaetz likely "did not learn" the high schooler's age until "after their first sexual encounters," the committee said, but "statutory rape is a strict liability crime" and he "met up with her again for commercial sex" soon after she turned 18.

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There was not "sufficient evidence" Gaetz took the minor across state lines, which would be a federal crime, the report said, and the Florida statute of limitations for statutory rape has expired.

Gaetz, who has denied all the allegations, said the Ethics Committee unfairly targeted him in a "Christmas Eve-Eve report and not in a courtroom" where he could "present evidence and challenge witnesses." He had sued to stop the report's release. The committee said Gaetz was "uncooperative" throughout and had "pointed to evidence that would 'exonerate' him yet failed to produce any such materials."

What next?

Gaetz is "set to join the right-wing One America News Network as an anchor in January," CNN said.