Then-U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Florida, leaves a House Republican Conference meeting at the U.S. Capitol on Oct. 3, 2023 in Washington, D.C. Gaetz, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for U.S. attorney general, faces allegations of illicit drug use and sexual relations with underage women. Gaetz and his allies have repeatedly denied all wrongdoing. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
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Former Rep. Matt Gaetz, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for attorney general, has long been dogged by allegations of illicit drug use and sexual relations with underage women, though he has never been charged. Now, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are calling for the release of a report from a House Ethics Committee investigation reportedly detailing damning accusations against him. Gaetz and his representatives have repeatedly denied all wrongdoing.
The attorney general heads the Justice Department, which prosecutes federal crimes, brings major civil lawsuits and cases and intervenes in others. If confirmed, Gaetz would oversee thousands of attorneys, special agents and other staff, including the solicitor general, who represents the federal government’s position before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Here’s what we know:
Who is Matt Gaetz?
Trump nominated Gaetz to be his attorney general on November 13, describing him as a “Champion for the Constitution and the Rule of Law.” Gaetz graduated from William & Mary Law School in 2007 and worked in private practice at a firm for a few years before launching his political career. He has never served as a prosecutor.
Gaetz, 42, the son of high-profile Florida politician Don Gaetz, was elected to the Florida House of Representatives in 2010 and the U.S. House in 2016, representing a deep-red Florida Panhandle district.
In Congress, Gaetz was a member of House Republicans’ right flank and espoused libertarian positions, supporting the legalization of marijuana and objecting to U.S. involvement in foreign conflicts. He was also an early supporter of Trump and staunchly defended Trump during his first impeachment.
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Following President Joe Biden’s election in 2020, Gaetz quickly jumped onto false claims of election fraud and called on the Department of Justice to intervene in Philadelphia’s vote-counting process. Since the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, Gaetz has repeated fringe conspiracy theories about the events of that day and has publicly defended January 6 rioters charged with crimes. He also introduced legislation this year that sought to limit federal prosecutors’ ability to pursue charges against January 6 defendants who petition for resentencing.
In 2023, he led a successful effort to oust fellow Republican Kevin McCarthy as House speaker.
What are the accusations against him?
In 2020, federal investigators arrested Joel Greenberg, a friend of Gaetz at the time and a rising figure in Florida politics, on charges of child sex trafficking. The former Seminole County tax collector was charged with 33 felonies and pleaded guilty in 2021 to six charges, including sex trafficking of a minor, stalking, wire fraud, identity theft and bribing a federal official to obtain fraudulent COVID-19 relief funds. Greenberg, who reportedly cooperated in the Department of Justice’s investigation into Gaetz, is currently serving an 11-year prison sentence.
Greenberg’s case sparked two major probes, one by congressional investigators and one by the department Gaetz is now nominated to lead, into whether Gaetz also committed statutory rape and paid for a 17-year-old girl to travel with him across state lines — a violation of federal law.
The Department of Justice investigated the sex trafficking allegations against Gaetz but ended its investigation last year without bringing criminal charges. Gaetz and his attorneys have consistently denied all allegations of wrongdoing and pointed to the Justice Department under Biden administration Attorney General Merrick Garland declining to pursue charges.
“Merrick Garland’s DOJ cleared Matt Gaetz and didn’t charge him,” a Gaetz spokesperson told multiple outlets. “Are you alleging Garland is part of a cover-up?”
The Justice Department typically operates independently of the White House — Biden did not seek to block the investigation into his handling of classified documents or the federal criminal case of his son Hunter. Trump has said the department should not be independent, though. In his first term, he attempted to quash the special investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 campaign, sought to install loyalists at the department and pushed DOJ officials to pursue baseless claims of fraud in the 2020 presidential election.
In addition to the Justice Department probe, the House Ethics Committee has investigated similar allegations and subpoenaed testimony from the woman, who was a teen at the time, at the center of the investigation. The committee reportedly interviewed at least six different women who described attending parties where Gaetz was also present. At least one was under the age of 18 at the time and told House investigators that the then-congressman had sex with her, according to ABC News.
Allegations surrounding Gaetz and sexual encounters with minors also came to light in a civil case brought by Florida lobbyist Chris Dorwoth, who had previously sued Greenberg and others in an effort to distance himself from the controversies involving Gaetz. Dorworth has since dropped the lawsuit, but in court filings made public earlier this year, three eyewitnesses testified that Gaetz had sex with a 17-year-old woman minor at a July 2017 party hosted at Dorworth’s house that included “alcohol; cocaine; middle-aged men; and young attractive females,” one witness stated.
In a 2021 appearance on Fox News, Gaetz stated: “The person doesn’t exist. I have not had a relationship with a 17-year-old. That is totally false.”
The House investigation also probed accusations that Gaetz abused state identification records, misappropriated campaign funds for personal use, improperly accepted gifts in violation of House rules and showed colleagues explicit photos of women on the House floor. At least one member of Congress, Sen. Markwayne Mullin, publicly attested that Gaetz showed his colleagues inappropriate videos and bragged about his sexual conquests. Gaetz called Mullin’s claims “a lie from someone who doesn’t know me and is coping with the political death of his friend Kevin,” referring to McCarthy.
What is the status of the Ethics Committee investigation?
Gaetz’s nomination for attorney general, and subsequent resignation from the House hours later, came days before the House Ethics Committee was set to vote on the public release of its report. Responding to reporters’ questions about news of the nomination, House Ethics Chairman Michael Guest had said that the investigation would not continue if Gaetz was no longer a member of Congress.
But congressional Republicans, Democrats and legal advocates have called for the report to be published.
Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas told reporters on Thursday that he “absolutely” wants to see the report.
That same day, Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, a Democrat and chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, released a statement saying, “The sequence and timing of Mr. Gaetz’s resignation from the House raises serious questions about the contents of the House Ethics Committee report and findings.”
“We cannot allow this critical information from a bipartisan investigation into longstanding public allegations to be hidden from the American people, given that it is directly relevant to the question of whether Mr. Gaetz is qualified and fit to be the next Attorney General of the United States,” he continued.
House Speaker Mike Johnson told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Sunday he believes the Ethics Committee shouldn’t release the report due to Gaetz no longer being a member of Congress — but said he hasn’t spoken to Trump about the matter. A Trump spokesperson did not immediately respond to The 19th’s request for comment about whether Trump agrees, but his transition team is standing behind Gaetz, dismissing the allegations against him as “baseless.”
“The Biden Justice Department investigated Gaetz for years and cleared him of wrongdoing,” Alex Pfeiffer, a Trump transition spokesperson, said in a statement to ABC News. “The only people who went to prison over these allegations were those lying about Matt Gaetz.”
John Clure is the attorney for the woman at the center for the House’s investigation who was a minor at the time she said she had sex with Gaetz. He’s called his nomination as attorney general “a perverse development in a truly dark series of events.”
“We would support the House Ethics Committee immediately releasing their report,” Clure posted Thursday on X. “She was a high school student and there were witnesses.”
Clure did not respond to emailed follow-up questions from The 19th.
Joel Leppard, another lawyer representing those who cooperated with both the DOJ and congressional investigations, is also calling on the committee to release the report. “Democracy demands transparency,” he wrote Friday on X. “Release the Gaetz Ethics report.”
Leppard is going public to detail his clients’ allegations. He told ABC News on Monday that two of his adult clients testified and provided evidence that Gaetz paid them for sex and that another testified to seeing Gaetz having sex with her friend, who was 17 at the time, at a 2017 party.
The Ethics Committee is expected to meet Wednesday, multiple outlets reported Monday.
What can we expect from the confirmation process for Gaetz?
The Senate is tasked with overseeing and approving confirmations, but Trump has pushed for the chamber to embrace recess appointments, which would allow for Gaetz to be confirmed without the traditional process. Sen. John Thune of South Dakota — the new Senate Republican leader — expressed openness to recess appointments, but also said he wants the Senate to hold confirmation hearings.
Gaetz’s nomination will likely be controversial even in the soon-to-be GOP-controlled Senate. Multiple Republican senators expressed shock at Trump choosing Gaetz, signaling that a number of them could vote against him.
The Senate Judiciary Committee will review Gaetz’s record and qualifications, and will call Gaetz, and witnesses for and against his nomination, to testify under oath in public confirmation hearings.
Democratic Sen. Chris Coons, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said on “Fox News Sunday” that the House Ethics report is “relevant” to the committee’s review of Gaetz’s nomination.
“It’s called our advice and consent role to make sure that a president-elect mostly gets their choice, their nominees, but doesn’t get to put people in who are unqualified or who lack the requisite character and capabilities to lead an incredibly important agency like the Department of Justice,” he said.
If a majority on the Senate Judiciary Committee votes to advance Gaetz’s nomination, it will go to the full Senate for a vote where a simple majority must vote to confirm him to the position.
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