In a press release Tuesday, the House Ethics Committee issued an update on its investigation into Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), announcing it would continue to look at serious alleged crimes, open inquiries into additional allegations, and drop a few lines of inquiry.
The committee is now investigating whether Gaetz “engaged in sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, accepted improper gifts, dispensed special privileges and favors to individuals with whom he had a personal relationship, and sought to obstruct government investigations of his conduct.” Those last two items are additions since the investigation began in April 2021.
What are the dismissed allegations? That the Florida Republican “shared inappropriate images or videos on the House floor, misused state identification records, converted campaign funds to personal use, and/or accepted a bribe or improper gratuity.”
In Feb. 2023, the Department of Justice declined to charge Gaetz after investigating whether he had sex with a minor and transported the girl across state lines for purposes of prostitution. Alongside all other accusations, Gaetz has denied having sex with anyone underage, or ever paying for such relations. The committee, however, continues to look into an alleged crime of a sexual nature.
Gaetz has lambasted the House investigation as an act of revenge by fellow Republicans for his leading role in ousting Republican Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy in 2023. This week, he called it a “Soviet”-esque plot by “McCarthy and his goons.” If so, it was a handoff. The press has widely noted that the committee’s investigation began in 2021, before McCarthy or the Republicans held power in the House.
One might think Gaetz would attempt to blame the Democrats, as they controlled the House in 2021 and had one of their own as committee chair (though the Department of Justice opened its investigation into Gaetz in late 2020, when Donald Trump was still president). However, when the investigation was announced, Democrats and Republicans on the ethics committee showed a bit of a united front, making accusations of partisan attack more difficult.
Gaetz is a Trump loyalist, standing with the former president during his recent hush money trial, which Gaetz declared “corrupt” and Trump labeled a “political witch hunt” orchestrated by the Democrats. Gaetz would still perhaps like to take a page from the Trump playbook and feign persecution, but Republicans now control the House and chair the ethics committee. They could shut the investigation down at once, but still see grounds to continue, which could suggest compelling evidence against Gaetz. Sometimes, conduct is so egregious in your own party it cannot be ignored (just ask George Santos). Only Trump appears fully immune.
