WASHINGTON – The House Ethics Committee on Tuesday released an unusual public update on its long-running investigation into the congressman. Matt GaetzR-Florida, saying his review now includes whether Gaetz engaged in sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, accepted inappropriate gifts and attempted to obstruct government investigations into his conduct.
The commission also announced that it will no longer analyze four other complaints involving the parliamentarian, including that he shared inappropriate images or videos with colleagues on the Chamber floor or that he accepted bribes or converted campaign resources for personal use.
Gaetz categorically denied all allegations brought before the committee.
In a tweet on Monday in anticipation of the committee’s announcement, Gaetz noted that the ethics panel had closed four investigations and said those investigations “emerged from lies designed only to defame me.”
“Instead of working with me to ban stock trading in Congress, the Ethics Committee is now opening new frivolous investigations. They are doing this to avoid the obvious fact that every investigation into me ends the same way: my exoneration,” Gaetz said on social platform X.
Gaetz led the effort to expel then speaker Kevin McCarthy from office last fall. Seven Republicans joined him in ousting McCarthy, along with 208 Democrats. Many House Republicans remain angry with Gaetz, arguing that McCarthys’ removal was a selfish and destructive act that hurt the party.
Gaetz blamed McCarthy for the Ethics Committee review, even though the investigation began before Republicans won the House majority.
“This is Soviet. Kevin McCarthy showed them the man, and now they are trying to figure out the crime,” Gaetz wrote in X. “I work for Northwest Floridians who will not be swayed by this nonsense and McCarthy and his henchmen know it.”
The Committee it started its review of Gaetz in April 2021, postponed its work in response to a Justice Department request, and renewed its work in May of last year after the DOJ withdrew its request for the legislature to halt an investigation. This was shortly after Gaetz announced that the Justice Department closed a sex trafficking investigation without bringing charges against him.
The ethics commission said that despite the difficulty in obtaining relevant information from Gaetz and others, it spoke to more than a dozen witnesses, issued 25 subpoenas and reviewed thousands of pages of documents.
One thing being investigated is whether Gaetz “distributed special privileges and favors to individuals with whom he had a personal relationship,” the committee said.
The ethics committee warned that the existence of an investigation does not, in itself, indicate that any violation of the law or House rules has occurred. The statement said no further public comment will be made on the matter.
