Matt Gaetz allegedly paid tens of thousands of dollars for sex and drugs: House Ethics report

Former U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, an anti-LGBTQ+ Republican, paid tens of thousands of dollars to pay for sex and drugs, according to copies of the report obtained by several media outlets.

The House Ethics Committee said in the report that it found evidence that the Republican paid for sex with women and for drugs about 20 times, CNN reports.

The payments totaled over $90,000, according to CBS.

One of those times Gaetz allegedly paid to have sex with a 17-year-old girl. The committee also concluded that Gaetz broke Florida state laws in these incidents.

The committee is led by GOP members, who eventually decided to vote in favor of releasing the report. Something that is unusual in cases when the subject of such investigations leaves Congress. Gaetz quit Congress last month.

“The Committee determined there is substantial evidence that Representative Gaetz violated House Rules and other standards of conduct prohibiting prostitution, statutory rape, illicit drug use, impermissible gifts, special favors or privileges, and obstruction of Congress,” panel investigators wrote in its conclusion, according to CBS.

Related: 10 batsh*t things you should know about Matt Gaetz

Gaetz has denied wrongdoing on multiple occasions.

“In my single days, I often sent funds to women I dated - even some I never dated but who asked. I dated several of these women for years,” Gaetz wrote on social media last week when news broke that the committee had voted to release the report. “It’s embarrassing, though not criminal, that I probably partied, womanized, drank and smoked more than I should have earlier in life. I live a different life now.”

The House panel did not find evidence Gaetz broke federal sex trafficking laws, according to CNN, but the panel stated in the report “although Representative Gaetz did cause the transportation of women across state lines for purposes of commercial sex, the Committee did not find evidence that any of those women were under 18 at the time of travel, nor did the Committee find sufficient evidence to conclude that the commercial sex acts were induced by force, fraud, or coercion.”

Several women told the committee that they were paid by Gaetz or paid for him. One of them was 17 at the time. The committee said it didn't find evidence that Gaetz knew of her age.

Gaetz's then-girlfriend acted on his behalf, according to the report. Texts and other evidence reviewed by the panel showed that “Representative Gaetz’s then-girlfriend sometimes participated with him in sexual encounters with other women who were active on the website or otherwise involved in sex-for-money arrangements.”

Related: Matt Gaetz can 'f**k off' for alleging Wisconsin shooter was transgender, gay Rep. Mark Pocan says

Other text messages also show interactions around meeting up with women. In one, Joel Greenberg, a friend of Gaetz and former Florida official who is serving an 11-year prison term for sex trafficking, wire fraud, and other charges, said, “Well, [Gaetz] is down here only for the day, we work hard and play hard,” adding, “Have you ever tried molly.”

“While all the women that the Committee interviewed stated their sexual activity with Representative Gaetz was consensual, at least one woman felt 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,’” the panel wrote. “One woman said, ‘I think about it all the time … . I still see him when I turn on the tv and there’s nothing anyone can do. It’s frustrating to know I lived a reality that he denies.’”

The report also concluded that Gaetz used cocaine, ecstasy, and marijuana on various occasions and appeared to even have used an email from his congressional office at the Capitol complex to buy marijuana. He's denied illicit drug use.

Additionally, the panel said that Gaetz broke House rules and accepted various gifts like for transportation and accommodation.

Gaetz quit Congress after President-elect Donald Trump picked him to be the country's next attorney general. It was a move that both Democrats and Republicans blasted. Eventually, Gaetz withdrew his nomination.

The former lawmaker has filed a temporary restraining order to try to block the report's official release, CBS reports.