The House Ethics Committee released an update on its continued investigation of Rep. Matt Gaetz, stating it is looking into allegations of illicit drug use, sexual misconduct, improper gifts and attempts to obstruct investigations into his conduct.
The panel made the unusual announcement Tuesday in an apparent attempt to clarify news reports on the probe.
The committee also said it’s dropping four separate allegations against Gaetz, a Florida Republican, including misuse of state identification records, using campaign funds to personal use, accepting bribes and sharing inappropriate material with colleagues on the House floor.
The 42-year-old Trump-loving pol strongly denied the allegations on Monday.
“Instead of working with me to ban Congressional stock trading, the Ethics Committee is now opening new frivolous investigations. They are doing this to avoid the obvious fact that every investigation into me ends the same way: my exoneration,” Gaetz wrote.
The House Ethics Committee has closed four probes into me, which emerged from lies intended solely to smear me. Instead of working with me to ban Congressional stock trading, the Ethics Committee is now opening new frivolous investigations. They are doing this to avoid the…
— Rep. Matt Gaetz (@RepMattGaetz) June 17, 2024
He also blamed former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, a California Republican, for the continued scrutiny, writing, “Kevin McCarthy showed them the man, and they are now trying to find the crime.”
The Ethics Committee initially launched its review of Gaetz in April 2021. It said that despite challenges in obtaining information from him and others, it has issued 25 subpoenas, interviewed over a dozen witnesses and reviewed thousands of documents.
The investigation covers whether Gaetz “dispensed special privileges and favors to individuals with whom he had a personal relationship” and whether he “sought to obstruct government investigations of his conduct.”
The Ethics Committee acknowledged the public interest in the case and said that “much of [the] reporting has been inaccurate,” although it did not specify which accounts were false.
With News Wire Services
