Former Florida Representative Matt Gaetz on Monday shared a note that he purportedly received from President-elect Donald Trump, posting a photo of the message online after the House Ethics Committee said it found evidence that Gaetz engaged in sexual misconduct and illegal drug use while in Congress.
The image — shared on X, formerly Twitter — showed a printout of a November article about allegations at the centre of the report, which was made public this week. Published by conservative outlet The Federalist, the article had questioned the credibility of people speaking out against Gaetz.
At the top of the printout, a handwritten message addressed to Gaetz reads, “Very Unfair!”
“I got a great note from President Trump!” the former Florida representative wrote beside the image. It was not clear when the photo was taken.
This comes after the House report, released earlier on Monday, accused Gaetz of breaking state and federal laws, saying it had found “substantial evidence” against him. It alleged that he’d paid tens of thousands of dollars to women “likely in connection with sexual activity and/or drug use,” claiming that he had used or possessed illegal substances like cocaine and ecstasy. It further alleged that he had paid a 17-year-old girl for sex in 2017.
The House Ethics Committee suggested that 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,” according to the report.
However, the report said it didn’t find that Gaetz had violated federal sex trafficking laws. The Department of Justice had previously launched a sex trafficking probe targeting Gaetz, but it dropped its investigation last year with no charges being filed.
The House Ethics Committee wrote that it heard from “over half a dozen witnesses who attended parties, events, and trips with Representative Gaetz from 2017-2020,” including an associate named Joel Greenberg. Greenberg is currently serving an 11-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to multiple federal crimes, including sex trafficking, as a part of a deal with prosecutors in 2021.
Greenberg was among the witnesses suggested to be “unreliable” by the Federalist article seen in Monday’s photo from Gaetz, as the DOJ had reportedly worried that he would lack credibility to a jury.
Gaetz, who has repeatedly denied wrongdoing, similarly questioned the credibility of those who spoke to officials about his conduct.
In a post on X, he wrote that “the very ‘witnesses’ DOJ deemed not-credible were assembled by House Ethics to repeat their claims absent any cross-examination or challenge from me or my attorneys. I’ve had no chance to ever confront any accusers. I’ve never been charged. I’ve never been sued.”
He said that he “often sent funds to women” he’d dated but added that he “NEVER had sexual contact with someone under 18.”
“My 30’s were an era of working very hard - and playing hard too,” he wrote. “It’s embarrassing, though not criminal, that I probably partied, womanised, drank and smoked more than I should have earlier in life. I live a different life now.”
Gaetz resigned from Congress in November after being named by Trump to be the next attorney general, but ultimately withdrew his bid for the post amid concerns around the House investigation into him. The House Ethics Committee at the time declined to release its findings, but reversed that decision earlier this month, making way for the report to become public.