'Customer appreciation': Gaetz report uses text messages to allege payments for sex

Source: USA Today

Published 5:28 p.m. ET Dec. 24, 2024


WASHINGTON ― Former Rep. Matt Gaetz, who was President-elect Donald Trump's first pick for Attorney General, denies committing statutory rape in allegedly paying a 17-year-old for sex and other bombshell accusations in a newly released House Ethics Committee report.

But some of the committee's damning allegations come from the former congressman's own words and actions, according to details within the long-awaited report made public Monday.

Others comprise text messages, financial records, photos and interviews of people closest to him, the committee report said, including a former friend who's now in prison and an ex-girlfriend who both used a “sugar dating” site linking older men with younger women. Gaetz has denied wrongdoing, attacked the credibility of the committee and some witnesses and said on social media that he regularly gave money to his girlfriends and acquaintances when he was younger.

A Justice Department investigation into Gaetz began in 2020 under then-Attorney General Bill Barr during Trump’s first term in office. The federal investigation of the Florida Republican resulted in no charges.

Read more: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2024/12/24/matt-gaetz-report-sex-drugs/77201644007/