The House Ethics Committee found substantial evidence that former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) committed several crimes, including the statutory rape of a 17-year-old girl. The 37-page report states 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. Related Gay congressman calls Matt Gaetz an idiot & tells him to f**k off Gaetz made an inappropriate joke about a school shooting in Rep. Mark Pocans district. The draft report obtained by several news outlets reportedly includes testimony from witnesses admitting Gaetz paid them for sex, as well as evidence of the misconduct through both texts and Venmo and PayPal receipts. Insights for the LGBTQ+ community Subscribe to our briefing for insights into how politics impacts the LGBTQ+ community and more. Subscribe to our Newsletter today From 2017 to 2020, Representative Gaetz made tens of thousands of dollars in payments to women that the Committee determined were likely in connection with sexual activity and/or drug use, the report states, adding that the payments spanned 12 different women and exceeded $90,000, as reported by CBS News. The report also details that Gaetz had paid for sex twice with a 17-year-old, who it refers to as Victim A. Victim A recalled receiving $400 in cash from Representative Gaetz that evening, which she understood to be payment for sex, it says. Victim A said that she did not inform Representative Gaetz that she was under 18 at the time, nor did he ask her age.The committee also detailed extensive drug use by Gaetz, as well as his propensity for drug-fueled parties. While the women who testified said all of the encounters were consensual, one said the number of drugs involved could have impair[ed their] ability to really know what was going on or fully consent. The committee did not find Gaetz guilty of violating federal sex trafficking laws, though, since any women he transported across state lines for sex were over 18 at the time. It was initially believed the report would not be released after Donald Trump nominated Gaetz for attorney general and Gaetz subsequently resigned from the House of Representatives (he has since withdrawn from the nomination in the wake of the controversy surrounding him). Its rare for the House Ethics Committee to release an ethics report after a member has left Congress, but the Ethics Committee held a secret vote to release the report anyway.Gaetz reportedly filed a lawsuit this morning to block the reports release, arguing that he is now a private citizen and thus not under the committees jurisdiction. Shortly after he was nominated for attorney general,The New York Timespublished a document prepared by federal investigators bolstering claims by women who said Gaetz hired them for sex. The image showed a web of payments from Gaetz and dozens of friends and associates who are said to have taken part with him in drug-fueled sex parties.Gaetzremoved himself from considerationbarely a week after Trump nominated him, writing that the scandals surrounding him had become a distraction to Trumps transition into the presidency. He later announced that hell join the right-wing media outlet One America News Network in January.However, upon hearing news of the reports possible release, Gaetz wrote on X that he was fully exonerated from any allegations of criminal wrongdoing. While the DOJ didnt seek criminal charges against him, that isnt the same as being completely absolved of any wrongdoing it merely means the body may not have found enough evidence to build a case against him that would prove his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Nevertheless, Gaetz wrote, In my single days, I often sent funds to women I dated even some I never dated but who asked. I dated several of these women for years. I NEVER had sexual contact with someone under 18.Any claim that I have would be destroyed in court which is why no such claim was ever made in court.My 30s were an era of working very hard and playing hard too. Its embarrassing, though not criminal, that I probably partied, womanized, drank and smoked more than I should have earlier in life. I live a different life now, he added.Then, the very witnesses DOJ deemed not-credible were assembled by House Ethics to repeat their claims absent any cross-examination or challenge from me or my attorneys, Gaetz continued. Ive had no chance to ever confront any accusers. Ive never been charged. Ive never been sued. Instead, House Ethics will reportedly post a report online that I have no opportunity to debate or rebut as a former member of the body. The allegations facing GaetzIn 2020, the Secret Service received a tip that Gaetz was associated with a Florida county tax collector who was charged with making fake IDs to sex-traffic underage girls. The DOJ opened an investigation into Gaetz that same year, and investigators found that Gaetz would show his colleagues videos of naked and topless women on his phone as he bragged about how he was able to go to the parties held by the county tax collector,according to some witnesses.In an attempt to get a pardon in 2020, the county tax collector wrote a letter to the Trump administration in which he confessed to paying women and girls for sex and said that he and Gaetz sexually abused a 17-year-old girl together but said that they thought she was 19.Around the same time, the DOJ was also investigating whether Gaetz paid for her to travel with him for an alleged sexual relationship with her when she was 17. Gaetz denied the accusations and said that he was the victim of an extortion plot by an unnamed DOJ official. In strange media interviews, Gaetz claimed his father was wearing a wire to help officials catch the person extorting him, and he denied that there were photos of him with child prostitutes no one accused him of that.Gaetzs close relationship with Joel Greenberg who pleaded guilty in 2021 following a DOJ probe into whether he had sex with an underage girl and introduced her to other adult men who also had sex with her while she was underage put him under suspicion, as did the fact that Gaetz was the only member of Congress to vote against a bill that increased funding to fight human trafficking.Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CO), who was House Minority Leader at the time, said that he would not remove Gaetz from his committee assignments.CNN reportedthat Gaetz showed pictures of naked women to his colleagues on the House floor and bragged about having sex with themin 2021.But by 2022, the DOJ investigation into Gaetz had concluded, and prosecutors recommended not charging Gaetz in the sex trafficking investigation due to a lack of credibility of two key witnesses.Subscribe to theLGBTQ Nation newsletterand be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.