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The House Ethics Committee secretly voted earlier this month to release its report on former Rep. Matt Gaetz, reversing its party-line vote from November to block the report’s release, NBC News reported, citing two sources familiar with the matter.
The report is expected to be made public before the end of the year and possibly as early as the end of this week, the sources told NBC News. CNN was the first to report the committee’s vote.
Gaetz abruptly resigned from Congress last month after President-elect Donald Trump named him as his pick for defense secretary in his incoming administration. But Gaetz withdrew from consideration less than two weeks later after Senate Republicans reportedly balked at his selection.
The House Ethics Committee — a 10-member panel evenly split between Republicans and Democrats — had investigated Gaetz for several years over allegations of sexual misconduct and illegal drug use. But the panel lost its jurisdiction over the Florida Republican when he left Congress.
Gaetz, 42, has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing. A separate Justice Department investigation into sex trafficking allegations against him concluded last year without any charges brought against him.
“I was charged with nothing: FULLY EXONERATED,” Gaetz said in a statement posted to X on Wednesday after news broke of the committee’s decision to release its report. “Not even a campaign finance violation. And the people investigating me hated me.”
The House Ethics Committee will “reportedly post a report online that I have no opportunity to debate or rebut as a former member of the body,” he added.
Two women told the House Ethics Committee during its investigation into Gaetz that he paid them for sex several times, the women’s lawyer told NBC News last month. One of the women said Gaetz paid her for sex at a small, invitation-only party in 2017, while he was a member of the House, according to her lawyer, Joel Leppard.
The woman also said she saw Gaetz having sex with her 17-year-old friend at the same party in Florida, where prostitution is illegal, Leppard said. As NBC News reported, “Leppard’s client testified that she did not think Gaetz knew the girl was a minor, he said. He added that Gaetz ‘stopped their sexual relationship’ when he found out and ‘did not resume it until after she turned 18’ around December 2017.”
In his X post on Wednesday, Gaetz continued to deny any wrongdoing and seemed to reference the allegations that he paid women — and specifically a minor — for sex.
“In my single days, I often sent funds to women I dated — even some I never dated but who asked,” Gaetz wrote. “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 30’s were an era of working very hard — and playing hard too,” he continued. “It’s 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.”
Gaetz is set to host a new TV show with the conservative One America News Network in January.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
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