What to know about the Matt Gaetz investigation
Matt Gaetz has long been the subject of a congressional ethics investigation
- Published
Matt Gaetz's path to lead the US Department of Justice ended after misconduct allegations complicated the former Florida congressman's path to confirmation.
President-elect Trump had chosen Gaetz to serve as Attorney General, America's top law enforcement officer. On X, formerly Twitter, the 42-year-old said the debate over his past and fitness for the role "was unfairly becoming a distraction" to the work of the incoming Trump administration.
The Florida lawmaker is the subject of a long-running investigation by a congressional ethics panel into a number of claims involving drugs, bribes and sex. Here's all you need to know about the report.
A woman who attended a 2017 party with him has testified to the House committee that she saw the then-congressman having sex with a minor, her lawyer has said.
The same lawyer alleged on Monday that this witness and another woman were paid by Gaetz to have sex with him.
Gaetz has denied any wrongdoing and called the investigation into him a "smear campaign".
The Department of Justice (DoJ) - which Gaetz would have lead in the post - also investigated the claim involving the minor but ultimately did not file any criminal charges against him.
When Gaetz learned of his nomination by President-elect Donald Trump, he resigned from Congress, putting him out of reach of the investigation by the ethics panel - which deadlocked on whether to release their findings.
Pressure was building for it to publish its report on the alleged misconduct before Gaetz withdrew his nomination entirely.
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What are the allegations?
Gaetz, 42, represented Florida's first congressional district in the US House of Representatives.
He came to power in the same election in 2016 that propelled Donald Trump to the White House.
A fierce Trump defender, he has long upset Democrats but also many Republicans with his bombastic public conduct and alleged hard-partying lifestyle.
On and off since 2021, the secretive House Ethics Committee has investigated Gaetz over various allegations, including the claim that he had sex with an underage girl, used illicit drugs, accepted bribes, misused campaign funds and shared inappropriate images on the House floor.
The Floridian has repeatedly and vehemently denied wrongdoing, casting the probe as an attempt to smear his name by powerful enemies he has made in politics.
He has also raised in his defence the fact that the DoJ ended a separate three-year, federal sex-trafficking investigation last year by deciding not to bring charges against him.
"Lies were Weaponized to try to destroy me," Gaetz posted on X on Friday.
"These lies resulted in prosecution, conviction, and prison. For the liars, not me."
Joel Greenberg, Gaetz's one-time friend, was the lone person charged in the DoJ's sex trafficking investigation. He cooperated with investigators and reportedly told prosecutors information about multiple others, including Gaetz.
Greenberg is currently serving an 11-year prison sentence after agreeing to plead guilty to multiple federal charges, including under-age sex trafficking, wire fraud, stalking, identity theft, producing a fake ID card, and conspiring to defraud the US government.
Joel Greenberg
Is there a case against Gaetz?
As part of his cooperation with federal prosecutors, Greenberg admitted he had repeatedly paid young women to attend parties with him and his friends, where they used drugs and had sex.
At least one of the girls he paid for sex was 17 years old at the time - and Greenberg alleged that Gaetz had also had sex with her - a claim federal authorities investigated but were unable to verify.
No charges were filed against Gaetz, who has fiercely denied these allegations, and the federal investigation was later closed.
The congressional probe continued and it was reportedly due to release its findings but that was halted when Trump announced he wanted Gaetz to lead the DoJ.
Gaetz's nomination as attorney general was followed hours later with his resignation from the House, which halted the release of the investigation's findings.
His departure from Congress means he is no longer under congressional jurisdiction.
Joel Leppard, who represents the then-minor with whom Gaetz is accused of having sex, has called for the report's release. He said the then-minor testified to the committee that she had sex with Gaetz while "she was a high school student, and there were witnesses".
He said one of his other clients said she had witnessed Gaetz having sex with the then-17-year-old.
CBS News, the BBC's US partner, has learned that the committee has heard from at least four women who say they were paid to attend parties with drugs and sex where Gaetz was allegedly present.
Mr Leppard told CBS on Monday that the panel had seen evidence of transactions on the Venmo mobile app between Gaetz and the women, which they alleged was used to pay for sex.
Gaetz has denied having sex with a minor or paying women for sex.
Speaker Johnson: Releasing Gaetz ethics report would open "a Pandora's box"
Why did Gaetz withdraw?
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Gaetz was already struggling to find support within the Senate, which evaluates and confirms a president's staffing choices for key positions, including attorney general.
He appeared to fall short of the 50 votes needed in the body, though it would not have voted until after Trump takes office on 20 January.
The confirmation hearing for Gaetz would have required some of these salacious allegations being considered in public.
Trump initially stood by Gaetz, calling Republicans directly to press them to back him according to Axios reports, external.
On Thursday, Trump posted on social media that he remained supportive of Gaetz but understood his decision to withdraw.
"He was doing very well but, at the same time, did not want to be a distraction for the Administration, for which he has much respect," Trump wrote on Truth Social. "Matt has a wonderful future, and I look forward to watching all of the great things he will do!"
What will happen to the House Ethics Committee report?
When Gaetz resigned from his House seat, it severely handicapped Congress's ability to publish the ethics report's findings.
"We don't issue investigations and ethics reports on people who are not members of Congress," House Speaker Mike Johnson said at the time.
Now that Gaetz is no longer in the running for attorney general, the chances of the report being released have slimmed to virtually zero.
"The report dies," Quardricos Driskell, a legislative affairs professor at George Washington University's graduate school of political management, told the BBC.
The report can only be released during the lifespan of the current 118th Congress, which ends in January, Mr Driskell said.
Once the new Congress is sworn in, "the report kind of just goes away", he said.
Unless a member of Congress or someone like an investigative journalist decides to "go on this personal crusade of finding out what's in the report", Mr Driskell explained.
"Leaks happen. That's kind of unavoidable."
Brandon Drenon contributed to this report