A woman testified before the House Ethics Committee that she witnessed U.S. Representative Matt Gaetz having sex with a minor at a house party in Orlando in 2017. Gaetz, who was elected as President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for U.S. attorney general, denied all allegations of sexual misconduct. The woman’s lawyer, Joel Leppard, also represents two witnesses who provided testimony to the committee regarding Gaetz.
The FBI previously investigated Gaetz for sex-trafficking allegations involving a 17-year-old, but he was not charged with any crime. The House Ethics Committee had launched an investigation in April 2021 but deferred it at the request of the Department of Justice. The investigation was reauthorized in 2023 after the DOJ withdrew its deferral request.
Following Gaetz’s resignation from Congress, the fate of the committee’s report remains unclear. Some Republican senators want details from the investigation before a confirmation vote on Gaetz as attorney general. Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson plans to request that the ethics panel does not release its report, citing Gaetz’s resignation as a reason to withhold it.
The bipartisan House Ethics Committee, made up of 10 members, was set to meet to discuss the report on Gaetz and whether to release it to the public but the meeting was called off. Gaetz, a far-right Republican, served as a U.S. representative for Florida’s District 1 before his resignation.
Photo credit
www.nbcnews.com
