Former Congressman and Donald Trump’s former pick for the attorney general post Matt Gaetz reacted to the ethics committee probe report into the allegations of sexual misconduct against him and said that giving funds to someone you are dating is not engaging in prostitution.
“Giving funds to someone you are dating – that they didn’t ask for – and that isn’t “charged” for sex is now prostitution?!?”
“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. This is testimony from one of the alleged “prostitutes” that you won’t see in the report!” he wrote.
Gaetz posted a series of screenshots of the testimony of the women who brought the allegations against him and pointed out that they never said that they charged the money for sex.
Apart from defending on X, Matt Gaetz also filed a suit against the ethics committee seeking a temporary order to prevent the release of the report saying that it contains “untruthful and defamatory information” that would “significantly damage” his “standing and reputation in the community.” Gaetz’s complaint argues he’s no longer under the committee’s jurisdiction since he resigned from Congress.
What did the report reveal against Gaetz?
The US House Ethics Committee has found that former Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz paid tens of thousands of dollars to women for drugs and sex, including with a 17-year-old girl.
The report found that Gaetz paid more than $90,000 to 12 different women, payments the Ethics panel determined were likely in connection with sexual activity and drug use.
The Ethics panel received testimony that Gaetz had sex twice with a 17-year-old girl, described in the report as “Victim A,” at a party in 2017. “Victim A recalled receiving $400 in cash from Representative Gaetz that evening, which she understood to be payment for sex,” the report said. “Victim A said that she did not inform Representative Gaetz that she was under 18 at the time, nor did he ask her age.”
All of the women who testified said the sexual encounters with Gaetz were consensual, the report said.