A former US lawmaker who was Donald Trump's first pick to run the Justice Department paid for sex numerous times, including with an underage girl, according to a congressional report due for release later Monday.
Matt Gaetz also used illegal drugs, including from his Capitol Hill office, according to the 37-page document obtained by CBS News and CNN, the culmination of a long-running probe by the House Ethics Committee.
"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, according to reports.
Gaetz has repeatedly denied wrongdoing -- pointing to the Justice Department's decision not to bring charges against him in 2023 after a criminal probe -- and is suing the committee to block its release.
Congressional investigators found that the 42-year-old broke multiple Florida laws on sexual misconduct, although they cleared him of federal sex trafficking violations.
The panel voted secretly to release its report after initially deciding against doing so.
Investigators listed payments by Gaetz totaling more than $90,000 to 12 women "likely in connection with sexual activity and/or drug use" between 2017 and 2020.
They focused on a 2018 trip to the Bahamas during which Gaetz is alleged to have had sex with four women and took the party drug ecstasy.
The ex-congressman is an incendiary figure with few friends on Capitol Hill, but was a staunch Trump loyalist and a favorite of the president-elect's ardent supporters.
He resigned from Congress in November after Trump nominated him for US attorney general.
The allegations had been openly discussed for years and Gaetz withdrew from consideration when it became clear he lacked sufficient backing from Republicans to win Senate confirmation.
Gaetz was not immediately available for comment but denied having sex with a minor or paying women for sex in a statement last week.
"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 said.
"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."
Women told congressional investigators they were paid for sex at events they attended between 2017 and 2020 by Gaetz and his friend Joel Greenberg, a former tax collector in Florida who was jailed for 11 years.
One encounter allegedly involved a 17-year-old girl, who told the committee she had sex with Gaetz twice at a July 2017 party, CNN reported.
"Victim A recalled receiving $400 in cash from Representative Gaetz that evening, which she understood to be payment for sex. At the time, she had just completed her junior year of high school," the report says, according to media outlets.
All the women who testified said the sexual encounters with Gaetz were consensual, CBS reported. Gaetz denied having sex with a minor in written responses to the committee.
