this house ethics committee revealed on Monday that it found “substantial evidence” that former Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz had sex with a 17-year-old girl in 2017 and that he “routinely” made payments to women during his time in Congress Sex expenses.

This panel is in a final report The years-long investigation into Gates also revealed that he used illegal drugs, including cocaine and ecstasy, on multiple occasions between 2017 and 2019.

The bipartisan committee concluded that Gates also accepted gifts “in excess of the allowable amount,” including a 2018 trip to the Bahamas.

“Representative Gates has acted in a manner that disgracefully brings disgrace to the House of Representatives,” the report said.

The committee said it found “substantial evidence that Representative Gates violated House rules, state and federal laws, and other standards of conduct prohibiting prostitution, statutory rape, illegal drug use, accepting impermissible gifts, providing special favors and privileges, and obstruction of justice.” “. Congress”.

But it found insufficient evidence that Gates violated federal sex trafficking laws, even though he “did transport women across state lines for commercial sex purposes.” The panel said it found no evidence that the women were under 18 at the time of the trip and could not conclude that “the commercial sex was induced by force, fraud or coercion”.

Gates has denied wrongdoing.

Gates’ attorney did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment on the report. After the report was released, Gates denied engaging in prostitution or sex trafficking in a series of X posts.

“There’s a reason they did this to me in a Christmas Eve report, not in any court where I could present evidence and challenge witnesses,” Gates wrote in a post.

Hours before the long-awaited report is released, Gates asked a federal judge to release a temporary restraining order This will prevent its release.

Gates, 42, resigned from Congress shortly after being elected president in mid-November Donald Trump Select him to serve as U.S. Attorney General. Trump’s choice to lead the Justice Department drew an immediate outcry from critics, who were quick to point out that if confirmed, Gates would be in charge of the agency that had previously investigated him over sex trafficking allegations.

this Ministry of Justice The investigation was closed without criminal charges being filed. But the ethics committee paused its own efforts amid the Justice Department’s release and reauthorized its investigation in May 2023.

When Gaetz left Congress, Republicans including Ethics Committee Chairman Rep. Michael Guest, R-Miss., said he no longer fell under the committee’s jurisdiction, raising questions about whether the committee’s report would ever be made public release.

news media report Gates’ departure comes just two days after the ethics committee voted to release the report. The group is split equally between Democrats and Republicans. deadlocked Although Gates is no longer a member of Congress, there are questions about whether to share the report.

but in a secret ballot On December 10, the committee decided to publish the report.

Gates quits He campaigned for attorney general just eight days after Trump was elected, saying he was “unfairly distracting from the Republican president-elect’s transition efforts.”

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