What's in the House ethics report on Matt Gaetz

Four Key Findings From Matt Gaetz's Ethics Report

Former Representative Gaetz speaking with journalists on the steps of the Capitol.

On Monday, the House Ethics Committee released a report concerning Matt Gaetz, an ally of Donald Trump. The report uncovered new information about the former congressman's purported actions, including at least one additional allegation and some details about the committee's investigation process.

According to the report, between 2017 and 2020, the committee found that the former congressman from Florida frequently compensated women for sexual encounters, had sexual relations with a 17-year-old, used or had illegal drugs, accepted gifts that exceeded what is allowed in the House, and assisted a woman in getting a passport.

Gaetz, who stepped down from his position in the US House of Representatives in November—just days before the report was due to be released and following Trump's endorsement of him for the role of US attorney general—has rejected the committee's conclusions, claiming that the investigation was biased.

Here are four key highlights from the eagerly awaited report that really catch the eye.

A Twisting Journey Of Money Flow

According to the report, House investigators revealed that Gaetz spent over $90,000 (£71,843) on women for sexual services and drugs. However, he allegedly set up a complex series of transactions that made the money flow difficult to track.

The report concluded that the committee could not establish how much of Representative Gaetz's payments to women were actually for sexual encounters with him.

He reportedly relied on his friend Joel Greenberg, who is currently serving an 11-year prison sentence for offenses he claims to have committed alongside Gaetz, as a regular intermediary. Gaetz is said to have accessed Greenberg's account on SeekingArrangement.com, a site that markets itself as a "luxury dating platform," to communicate with younger women.

According to the report, Gaetz also sent money directly to women, occasionally using services like Venmo. However, the committee noted that he frequently relied on someone else's PayPal account or an account associated with a fake name email address.

The panel noted that he also covered up payments. One instance involved him giving a college student a check written to "cash," with "tuition reimbursement" noted in the memo. The student explained that she received the check following a group meeting, suggesting that it might be considered a form of pressure since she was in urgent need of the money.

Gaetz has shared on social media that he provided financial support to women he was romantically linked with, describing it as gifts rather than payments. The committee determined that two of these women, aged 27 and 25, did not view their connections as purely transactional.

Another woman, identified as his girlfriend, chose to exercise her Fifth Amendment right, refusing to answer questions about whether she received money in exchange for sex or drugs, or to help others financially.

The committee tried to demonstrate that Gaetz regularly paid for sexual services by referencing a text message in which he mentioned having financial difficulties at one time.

His former girlfriend mentioned in her message that he and Greenberg were "somewhat strapped for cash" and suggested to a group of women that it could be more of a week dedicated to appreciating customers.

A few months later, the committee reported that she stated, "By the way, Matt said he's going to be a little more generous this time because of the 'customer appreciation' event from before."

"Passports, Parties, And A Wild Journey"

The committee also indicated that Gaetz purchased illegal narcotics or paid others back for them.

The blog discusses instances of his supposed use of cocaine and ecstasy/MDMA, but it mainly spotlights what seems to be a significant marijuana addiction. Reports claim that he requested women to bring marijuana cartridges to gatherings and events, and he set up a pseudonymous email account to purchase marijuana.

According to the report, a trip he took to the Bahamas was financed by someone linked to Representative Gaetz who has ties to the medical marijuana sector. This individual is said to have also covered the expenses for female escorts to join them on the trip.

A woman expressed that the influence of drugs and alcohol at gatherings had hampered her capacity to truly understand the situation or give proper consent.

The report noted that almost every woman the committee interviewed couldn't recall the specifics of at least one or more events they attended with Representative Gaetz, and they attributed this memory loss to the influence of drugs or alcohol.

His girlfriend at the time, who was 21 when they started dating and reportedly received tens of thousands of dollars throughout their two-year relationship, frequently took part in meetings with women and played a role as a go-between, as stated in the report.

A woman informed the committee that when she was 17, she engaged in sexual activity with Gaetz on two occasions during a party in 2017, including at least one instance in the presence of others, while both were high on ecstasy. Afterward, she received $400 from him.

She also informed the panel that she did not mention to Gaetz that she was a minor, and the committee did not discover any proof that the former congressman was aware of her age.

In 2021, Greenberg admitted to charges of sex trafficking involving the girl.

Gaetz is said to have instructed his chief of staff to fast-track a passport application for a woman he was involved with, claiming that she was a voter in his district. It’s also claimed that he provided her with $1,000.

According to the committee, Gaetz broke House rules that prohibit using his role for personal gain. They stated, "The woman was not from his district, and her situation was not dealt with in the same way as other passport assistance cases."

The committee spent a significant portion of the report discussing how Gaetz supposedly hindered their investigation, particularly by not providing the evidence he claimed would clear his name.

The report stated that he "consistently tried to distract, discourage, or mislead the Committee to keep his actions from being revealed."

Gaetz, who claims that the committee has been turned against him and has been sharing information with the media, stated that the group is acting in the interests of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, as mentioned in the report. He was instrumental in the movement to remove McCarthy from his position last year.

Although Gaetz stated that he had "freely provided tens of thousands of documents," the committee discovered that he actually submitted "just a few hundred documents, with over 90% being either unrelated or already accessible to the public."

One significant issue was a vacation to the Bahamas, where the committee claimed he failed to disclose certain information. In the end, they determined that he breached regulations regarding gifts since the trip's value was excessive.

The committee mentioned that the investigation by the Justice Department into the claims against Gaetz is another reason for the postponements.

Several witnesses requested that the committee utilize the statements they had provided to the department. However, the committee declined to share these statements, explaining that no charges had been filed and expressing concern that doing so might discourage potential witnesses in other cases from stepping forward.

The report concludes with a one-page statement from Michael Guest, the Chairman of the Ethics Committee, speaking for those committee members who disagreed, though their identities are not disclosed.

The members don’t dispute the conclusions of the committee; however, they are against making the report public after Gaetz stepped down from the House, something that hasn’t occurred since 2006, they state.

It goes against the Committee's usual practices, exposes the Committee to excessive criticism, and may be seen by some as an effort to misuse the Committee's procedures for personal gain.