Two centrist Republicans on the House Ethics Committee voted with every Democrat on the panel to release the committee’s report on former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL.)
Reps. Dave Joyce (R-Ohio) and Andrew Garbarino (R-N.Y.) sided with the committee’s five Democrats in voting to release the report, Axios reported citing two sources familiar with the matter.
Three Republicans including chairman Michael Guest (R-Miss.), along with Reps. Michelle Fischbach (R-Minn.) and John Rutherford (R-Fla.), opposed releasing the report. They argued that the panel lost jurisdiction after Gaetz resigned from Congress.
“I take great exception that the majority deviated from the Committee’s well-established standards and voted to release a report on an individual no longer under the Committee’s jurisdiction,” Guest said in a statement after the release of the report.
The report accused Gaetz of “regularly” paying for sex, including once with a 17-year-old girl, and purchasing and using illicit drugs as a member of Congress.
“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,” the report said.
Congressional investigators also said that Gaetz violated multiple state laws related to sexual misconduct while in office. They also found that Gaetz “knowingly and willfully sought to impede and obstruct” the committee’s investigation.
