Trump’s original AG pick paid thousands for sex, drugs, says report

WASHINGTON: 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, US media reported on Monday, citing a final draft of the panel’s report.

Gaetz, who has denied wrongdoing, resigned from the House of Representatives last month after he was selected by President-elect Donald Trump to be attorney-general. He withdrew from consideration in the face of an uphill confirmation battle in the Senate.

In a bid to prevent the report’s release, expected on Monday, Gaetz filed a lawsuit on Monday in federal court in Washington DC, against the ethics panel arguing that it no longer had jurisdiction after Gaetz resigned from Congress.

“The committee’s position regarding its lack of authority over former members represents a clear, well-established policy rather than an isolated interpretation,” Gaetz’s lawyers wrote in a complaint.

His lawyers sought an emergency order to temporarily block publication of the report, which they argued would contain “untruthful and defamatory information” about Gaetz.

Reuters was not immediately able to reach Gaetz for comment.

The report found that Gaetz paid more than US$90,000 to 12 different women, payments the ethics panel determined were likely in connection with sexual activity and drug use, CBS News reported. CNN reported similar details of the draft report. Both outlets said his actions violated Florida state laws.

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, CBS reported.

“Victim A recalled receiving US$400 in cash from Gaetz that evening, which she understood to be payment for sex,” CBS quoted the report as saying.

“Victim A said that she did not inform Gaetz that she was under 18 at the time, nor did he ask her age.”

Gaetz was the subject of a three-year FBI investigation into allegations of sex trafficking that produced no criminal charges.

The ethics panel said there was not sufficient evidence that the three-term congressman violated the federal sex trafficking statute, CBS reported.

All of the women who testified said the sexual encounters with Gaetz were consensual, according to CBS.

However, one woman told the committee that the use of drugs at the parties and events they attended may have “impair[ed their] ability to really know what was going on or fully consent.”

Another woman told the committee: “When I look back on certain moments, I feel violated.”

Gaetz argued in his lawsuit that the panel had violated his constitutional rights to due process under the law “through the threatened release of an investigative report containing potentially defamatory allegations.”

The panel’s report found that Gaetz violated House rules and other standards of conduct banning prostitution, statutory rape and drug use, CBS reported.

It also found “substantial evidence” Gaetz engaged in illicit drug use, CBS reported. It accused him of accepting gifts of luxury travel in excess of permissible limits with a 2018 trip to The Bahamas, CBS added.