Matt Gaetz Drops Evidence Refuting House Ethics Committee Report After Monday Release

The House Ethics Committee unveiled its report into the past conduct of former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) on Dec. 23 after he filed a lawsuit in federal court to block its release.

The report said it found “substantial evidence” that the former congressman violated House rules, Florida state laws, and federal laws.

The report alleges that Gaetz paid tens of thousands of dollars to women for drugs or sex in at least 20 instances, including paying a 17-year-old girl for sex in 2017.

“The Committee determined there is substantial evidence that Representative Gaetz violated House Rules and other standards of conduct prohibiting prostitution, statutory rape, illicit drug use, impermissible gifts, special favors or privileges, and obstruction of Congress,” panel investigators wrote.

After resigning from Congress last month following his nomination by President-elect Donald Trump for U.S. attorney general, Gaetz on Dec. 23 filed the lawsuit, which asks the judge to issue an emergency order to block the committee from releasing the report.

Now that Gaetz has resigned from Congress, he argued in the lawsuit that the House Ethics Committee is reaching beyond its constitutional authority because it lacks jurisdiction over him as a private citizen. His attorneys maintain the report includes “untruthful and defamatory information” that could “significantly damage” Gaetz’s standing and reputation.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Washington, names the Ethics Committee and its chair, Rep. Michael Guest (R-Miss.), as defendants.

“The Committee’s apparent intention to release its report after explicitly acknowledging it lacks jurisdiction over former members, its failure to follow constitutional notions of due process, and failure to adhere to its own procedural rules and precedent represents an unprecedented overreach that threatens fundamental constitutional rights and established procedural protections,” Gaetz’s attorneys wrote.

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/house-ethics-committee-releases-its-report-matt-gaetz