GOP-Led Ethics Committee Says It’s Still Probing Whether Matt Gaetz “Engaged in Sexual Misconduct”
After he was ousted as House Speaker last year, Kevin McCarthy claimed that Representative Matt Gaetz led the effort to depose him as revenge for a House Ethics Committee investigation into the Florida congressman. For his part, Gaetz has insisted that his motivations for giving McCarthy the boot were purely based on policy concerns. But if he was hoping the end of McCarthy would mean an end to the investigation, he was apparently sorely mistaken!
In a statement released on Tuesday, the ethics panel—which is notably controlled by Republicans—said that it has not only continued its investigation into Gaetz, but it has expanded the probe, writing:
The committee is reviewing allegations pursuant to Committee Rules 14(a)(3) and 18(a) that Representative Gaetz may have: engaged in sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, accepted improper gifts, dispensed special privileges and favors to individuals with whom he had a personal relationship, and sought to obstruct government investigations of his conduct.
The committee noted that “the mere fact of an investigation into these allegations does not itself indicate that any violation has occurred,” and also said that it is no longer examining allegations that Gaetz “may have shared inappropriate images or videos on the House floor, misused state identification records, converted campaign funds to personal use, and/or accepted a bribe or improper gratuity.”
The ethics probe into Gaetz initially began under former Speaker Nancy Pelosi; it was then paused, at the request of the Justice Department, which was conducting its own investigation into allegations the Florida congressman had paid for sex with a minor and broke federal sex trafficking laws. (Gaetz has repeatedly denied all allegations of wrongdoing.) In February 2023, prosecutors decided not to charge the Florida lawmaker, and shortly after that, the House reopened its probe, reportedly contacting witnesses as early as June 2023. Earlier this year, The New York Times reported that former Gaetz ally Joel Greenberg, who pleaded guilty in 2021 to charges that included sex trafficking, was cooperating with the Ethics Committee’s investigation.
On Monday, Gaetz took to X to tell his followers:
Last year, just weeks before he quit his job as a congressman, McCarthy told Politico, when asked about Florida Republicans in Congress: “You have a cross section. You have Gaetz, who belongs in jail, and you have serious members.”
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