The 40 worst lines from the Matt Gaetz Ethics Report

Whoa boy.

The House Ethics Committee on Monday released a 42-page report summarizing its years-long investigation into former Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz.

After reading it, you can see why Gaetz fought so hard to keep it from being made public. The image of him — a frequenter of prostitutes, a drug user — is not a flattering one.

I went through the report line by line — and pulled out the stuff you need to see. It’s below.

Worth noting: Gaetz has denied all allegations of underage sex or drug use. The Justice Department investigated the allegations and decided not to press charges against Gaetz in 2023.

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To the lines!

1. “The Committee has typically not released its findings after losing jurisdiction in a matter. However, there are a few prior instances where the Committee has determined that it was in the public interest to release its findings even after a Member’s resignation from Congress.”

Gaetz resigned from Congress at least in part to rob the Ethics Committee of its jurisdiction in this case — and to keep the report from going public. Ditto his decision to pull the ripcord on his nomination to be Attorney General after just 8 days. It was all designed to keep this report from coming out. Mission not accomplished. And away we go!

2. “In this instance, although several Committee Members objected, a majority of the Members of the Committee agreed that the Committee’s findings should be released to the public.”

The Ethics Committee is evenly divided by party — with 5 Republicans and 5 Democrats. Which means that at least one Republican voted to release the report, although we don’t know who just yet.

3. “From at least 2017 to 2020, Representative Gaetz regularly paid women for

   engaging in sexual activity with him.”

This is, obviously, very bad for Matt Gaetz’s future political prospects. But wait…it keeps getting worse.

4. “In 2017, Representative Gaetz engaged in sexual activity with a 17-year-old girl.”

Gaetz has denied this. And there is some evidence to suggest that he did not know the woman was underaged. But the evidence he did this — much more below — is convincing at least to me.

5. “During the period 2017 to 2019, Representative Gaetz used or possessed illegal

   drugs, including cocaine and ecstasy, on multiple occasions.”

Not great! And Gaetz was elected to Congress in November 2016 — so this timeline suggests he was actively using drugs and paying women for sex during his first term.

6. “Representative Gaetz knowingly and willfully sought to impede and obstruct the Committee’s investigation of his conduct.”

Sound like anyone else you know?