by Steven Richards
Former Congressman Matt Gaetz challenged the conclusions of a House Ethics Committee investigation on Monday, specifically disputing allegations he paid women for sex.
The probe into his conduct by the committee found that he paid multiple women for sex, including a 17-year-old high school junior, used illegal drugs like cocaine and ecstasy and obstructed efforts by Congress to investigate his conduct, according to a draft of its findings obtained by Just the News.
After the details of the forthcoming report were reported by Just the News and other outlets, Gaetz took to social media to hit back ahead of the official release of the document by the committee on Monday.
“Giving funds to someone you are dating – that they didn’t ask for – and that isn’t ‘charged’ for sex is now prostitution?!?” Gaetz wrote in a post to X. “There is a reason they did this to me in a Christmas Eve-Eve report and not in a courtroom of any kind where I could present evidence and challenge witnesses.”
He continued, “This is testimony from one of the alleged “prostitutes” that you won’t see in the report!”
Below he attached a screenshot of a deposition where one of the women interviewed by the committee said she “never charged anyone anything.”
In a second post, Gaetz noted that one of the alleged “prostitutes” told investigators that she did not classify anything she did in the relevant period as “sex work.”
“ANOTHER ONE of the ethics witnesses who was an alleged ‘prostitute’ claims she was indeed NOT when actually pressed in a deposition,” Gaetz wrote and attached a second screenshot.
Earlier this month, Gaetz claimed that a Justice Department probe “FULLY EXONERATED” him after he was charged with no crimes. He also said the witnesses who testified to the Ethics Committee were “deemed not-credible” by the DOJ.
“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,” Gaetz said last week. “Any claim that I have would be destroyed in court – which is why no such claim was ever made in court.”
The House Ethics Committee officially released a copy of the report before noon on Monday, which can be read here.
– – –
Steven Richards is a reporter for Just the News.
Photo “Matt Gaetz” by Gage Skidmore. CC BY-SA 2.0. Background Photo “Matt Gaetz X” by Matt Gaetz.
