Liam Conner
washington – The House Ethics Committee revealed in an unusual statement on Tuesday, the status of its investigation of Republican Party Representative Matt Gaetz of Florida over allegations ranging from sexual misconduct, drug use and obstruction.
The statement noted that there has been a “significant and unusual amount of public reporting on the Committee’s activities this Congress” and said “many of these reports have been inaccurate.” The panel disclosed which allegations it continues to review about Gaetz and which it does not.
According to the statement, the committee is still examining whether Gaetz may have “engaged in sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, accepted inappropriate gifts, granted special privileges and favors to individuals with whom he had a personal relationship, and sought to obstruct government investigations.” about your conduct.”
The committee, after speaking with more than a dozen witnesses and reviewing thousands of pages of documents, said it found that some allegations merit further review and also “identified additional allegations.” The statement acknowledged “the difficulty in obtaining relevant information from Representative Gaetz and others.”
ALLISON BAILEY/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images
The panel is taking no further action on allegations that Gaetz “may have shared inappropriate images or videos on the House floor, misused state identification records, converted campaign funds for personal use, and/or accepted bribes or improper gratification.”
CBS News reported in January that committee investigators appeared to be looking deeper into a closed federal investigation into Gaetz. The Department of Justice last year refused to charge Gaetz in his sex trafficking investigation. The four-term congressman was under investigation over several years to determine whether he violated sex trafficking laws and obstructed justice in that investigation. Gaetz said he never paid for sex nor had sex with a minor. The Ethics Committee suspended its investigation while the Justice Department investigation unfolded.
The committee emphasized that the existence of an investigation does not mean that violations of federal law have occurred. Gaetz denied all allegations.
On Monday, before the committee released its statement, Gaetz accused the panel of “now opening frivolous new investigations” and blamed former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. Gaetz led the attack to expel McCarthy last year.
“The House Ethics Committee has closed four investigations into me that arose from lies designed only to defame me,” he wrote on X. “Instead of working with me to ban stock trading in Congress, the Ethics Committee is now opening new frivolous investigations. They are doing this to avoid the obvious fact that all investigations into me end the same way: my exoneration is that Kevin McCarthy showed them the man, and now they are trying to uncover the crime I work for the residents of Northwest Florida. . Don’t be swayed by this nonsense and McCarthy and his henchmen know it.”
Scott MacFarlane contributed reporting.
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