CNN
—
Records of a party involving drugs, alcohol and young women allegedly attended by Matt Gaetz, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for attorney general, are in the hands of House ethics investigators, and former Florida congressman Matt Gaetz is in the hands of House ethics investigators. pressure to publish findings on
Evidence related to some of the sordid allegations against Gaetz emerged in a civil lawsuit filed by one of the Florida Republican’s friends against another former Gaetz associate who is currently in prison.
Several witnesses who gave depositions in the civil case, including a woman who was accused of having sex with Gates in 2017 when she was a minor, testified before the House committee.
The House Ethics Committee’s investigation into Gaetz was originally launched in 2021, but it encountered several obstacles, including a lack of access to records collected by the federal criminal investigation into Gaetz. However, once lawmakers were informed of the direction of civil litigation, the parliamentary investigation began in earnest. The civil lawsuit has been underway in Orlando federal court for the past 18 months. Although key evidence remains sealed, sources told CNN that Congressional investigators have obtained other non-public evidence in the case.
What will happen to materials collected by the House Ethics Committee, including a draft report that was awaiting release before Gaetz resigned to pursue the attorney general job, as the Senate considers whether to confirm the former lawmaker. This has become a major issue for lawmakers. He is the most controversial of Trump’s several controversial cabinet picks.
“If the report includes information the committee obtained from the (civil) lawsuits, it would be very damaging to members of Congress,” a source familiar with the congressional investigation told CNN.
In addition to the House Ethics Committee investigation, Gates also faced a separate investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice for sex trafficking, obstruction of justice and other potential crimes, which prosecutors declined to press.
Gates has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, including having sex with or paying for sex with minors.
“These allegations are fabricated and amount to false testimony before Congress,” Gaetz said in a statement to CNN. “This false smear, which follows a three-year criminal investigation, should be viewed with great skepticism.”
It is not clear what information uncovered by ethics investigators was incorporated into the final report. Notably, Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is considering Gaetz’s nomination, are demanding that the Ethics Committee turn over not just the report but also basic documents. Lawyers for the former minors are also calling for the report to be made public.
But some witnesses who participated in both the Justice Department and Hill investigations do not want the reports made public, people familiar with their thinking told CNN. Witnesses say they want to move forward.
A House committee on Friday abandoned plans for a closed-door meeting in which lawmakers were expected to consider releasing the report.
Gates came to the attention of Justice Department criminal investigators as part of a larger investigation into former colleague Joel Greenberg. After initially facing 33 charges, Greenberg pleaded guilty in 2021 to six federal charges, including child sex trafficking.
Greenberg, a former Seminole County tax collector, is serving an 11-year sentence and cooperated with federal investigators.
The federal case against Gaetz ultimately concluded last year after prosecutors recommended that the lawmaker not be prosecuted. But the House Ethics Committee’s investigation into Gaetz, who took his adversarial relationship with House leadership to the next level by leading the ouster of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy last year, was reopened after the Justice Department closed the case. Ta.
Meanwhile, Gates’ businessman and businessman Christopher Dorworth, who owns the Florida home where he allegedly had sexual contact with an underage girl in 2017, said Gates had refused because Dorworth refused. It charged Mr. Greenberg and his family with conspiring to make several false claims. The purpose is to help Mr. Greenberg obtain a pardon from President Trump. Dorworth, a former Florida congressman, also filed charges against minor victims.
The case involved an extensive discovery process, including depositions from key witnesses who also participated in the Justice Department investigation but have never spoken publicly. The former minor and the friend who took her to the party both testified in the case. Gates’ ex-girlfriend filed an affidavit.
The women’s depositions are still sealed. But Dorworth’s lengthy two-day deposition and other discovery documents obtained in the civil case have been made public. During the deposition, the attorneys who questioned Dorworth cited portions of the sealed deposition that detailed the former minor’s claims. In a series of cross-examinations, attorneys detailed that she testified that she had sex with Gaetz on an air hockey table at Dorworth’s home while Dorworth watched.
Dorworth vehemently denied the allegations in his deposition, testifying that he did not know the woman and that she was not even at his home during the gathering in question.
According to Dorworth’s deposition, the underage female friend who brought her to the party also testified that she had sex with Gaetz at the same gathering.
When asked about her friend’s claim that she had sex with Gaetz, Dorworth suggested in a deposition that both women made up their stories.
Johnson tells Tapper why House of Commons Ethics Committee report on Gaetz should not be released
“What I wasn’t really thinking about when this whole thing started was the idea that people were going to lie about these stories because of Matt’s political celebrity,” Dorworth said. “I truly believe that’s what actually happened.”
According to a portion of her sealed affidavit cited in another public document in the case, the friend also said that at the party she and the underage woman were drinking “alcohol, cocaine, ecstasy, also known as Molly, and marijuana. He testified that he had accessed “.
Another woman, identified only as “LP” in court documents, was sworn in alleging she attended a party a week later that summer with “alcohol, drugs, a middle-aged man, and a young, attractive woman.” He submitted an affidavit. Gates said he was among those in attendance.
Mr. Dorworth withdrew his lawsuit in September, but his depositions and other court records have been released as part of an ongoing dispute over whether the individuals he sued are entitled to attorney’s fees. It became public. The Miami Herald is also seeking to uncover more records in the case.
Lawyers also questioned Dorworth about a trip to the Bahamas where Gaetz took a woman who brought a 17-year-old boy to a party and a former minor who may have been 18 at the time of the trip. did.
Dorworth said in a sworn statement that he believed the woman who traveled with Gates to the Bahamas was an adult at the time of the trip.
The House Ethics Committee investigation was launched by House Democrats in 2021 but was put on hold until the Justice Department completed its criminal investigation.
People familiar with the House investigation told CNN that when the committee eventually returned to the inquiry, it appeared to have a hard time gaining access to Justice Department records.
One witness who spoke with Hill investigators early last year said they were “out of touch” and that they asked questions that appeared to be “based on news reports.”
Then, in mid-2024, the committee turned its attention to Dorworth’s civil case, which provided a trove of evidence. Congressional investigators have accessed both public and private records in the case and have brought in witnesses to testify, sources told CNN.
The House committee was scheduled to meet last week and release its report, but plans were put on hold when President Trump announced that he had selected Gaetz as his attorney general nominee. Following the news, Gaetz almost immediately submitted his resignation, which effectively ended the ethics investigation and jeopardized the release of the report.
CNN’s Casey Gannon and Annie Grayer contributed to this report.
