Matt Getz has been accused by a panel of the US Congress of paying for sex and using drugs

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Donald Trump’s former attorney general, President Matt Gaetz, was accused in an explosive report on Monday that he had sex with an underage woman, paid women for sex and used illegal drugs.

The House Ethics Committee found “substantial evidence” that the former Republican lawmaker violated not only congressional laws, but state and federal laws.

“The Committee has determined that there is sufficient evidence that Representative Gaetz violated House rules and other standards of conduct prohibiting prostitution, statutory rape, illegal drug use, impermissible gifts, special benefits or privileges, and obstruction of Congress.” The panel is finished.

Gates, a fierce Trump ally who is considered a Florida governor and Senate candidate, has denied any wrongdoing and Posted on X He was not charged after a previous Justice Department sexual misconduct investigation.

last week He wrote“I was charged with nothing. I was completely acquitted. Not even a campaign finance violation. The people investigating me hated me. . . . I never had sex with anyone under 18.

“Even though I’m not a criminal, I’ve probably been partying, being a woman, drinking and smoking more than I ever have in my life. It’s embarrassing. I live a different life now.”

The controversial 42-year-old was picked by President-elect Trump in mid-November to be attorney general despite his limited legal experience, causing a stir in Washington.

After a few days Getz Referring to the president-elect’s choice over Vice President JD Vance, he withdrew his name from consideration, saying his selection was unfairly distracting from the critical work of the Trump/Vance transition.

Trump chose former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi to replace Gatz.

In its report, the committee alleges that between 2017 and 2020, Gaetz paid tens of thousands of dollars to women, “probably in connection with sexual activity and/or drug use.”

In one instance, Gates In 2017, she allegedly sexually assaulted a 17-year-old girl at a party for cash transactions. The committee wrote that she had just finished her sophomore year and was under the influence of her sexual relationship with Getz. He added that there was no evidence that the former lawmaker knew she was a minor.

A year later, Getz joined a trip to the Bahamas with two other men and six women — a gift that was “more than authorized,” the report said.

The former congressman allegedly had sex with at least four of the women. “The trip itself was more of a payment,” one woman told the committee, though none of them received a separate payment for the trip.

All the women questioned by the committee said their sexual relations with Gaetz were consensual. But one said that drug use may have “impaired their ability to really know what was going on, or their full will,” while another said, “(W)e feel like I was raped when I look back at certain times.”

The report said witnesses saw Gates consuming marijuana, cocaine and ecstasy.

In the year In 2018, a former representative arranged for his chief of staff to help a woman he had sex with get a passport, falsely telling the State Department that she was a member of the State Department. The core team has been approached for comment.

Some Trump allies have sided with the former congressman over the report. “Matt Gates must return to Congress as a triumphant hero on the shoulders of the people,” wrote Steve Bannon, a former strategist for the president-elect, on X.