December 26, 2024

Florida Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz leaves the U.S. Capitol after the House failed to pass the Spending Cuts and Border Security Act on Friday, September 29, 2023.

Tom Williams | Chongqing Roll Call Company | Getty Images

Rep. Matt Gaetz said Thursday he learned he would be subpoenaed by the House Ethics Committee as it investigates the Florida Republican for sexual misconduct by minors or illegal drug use.

Gaetz, a close ally of former President Donald Trump, revealed plans to subpoena him to testify in an angry letter to the ethics committee, announcing that he would “no longer voluntarily participate” in the panel’s investigation.

Gaetz said he was aware the subpoena had been “issued but not served,” but would not say whether he would comply.

“I expressly reserve all my rights under House rules and the United States Constitution,” he wrote in the letter, which was posted on X.

Gates said the committee asked him on September 4 if he had “had sexual intercourse with anyone under the age of 18.”

“The answer to this question is unequivocally no,” he wrote.

But his response to whether he was “illegally taking drugs” was less straightforward.

“I have not used illegal drugs because there are no laws in U.S. jurisdictions permitting their use,” he wrote.

“I do not use ‘illegal’ drugs, which I believe are illegal medical or over-the-counter drugs throughout the United States,” Gates added.

He called the ethics committee’s questions “troubling” and suggested it was asking about “lawful, consensual sexual activity by adults” and “that’s not Congress’s business.”

“For months, I have volunteered tens of thousands of records and answered many of your related questions,” Gaetz wrote.

“But asking about my sexual history as a single man with an adult woman is a bridge too far. I will no longer volunteer to participate in this deplorable abuse of the commission.”

The controversial congressman called the letter his “final response” to the bipartisan panel and denounced the investigation as “an act of political vindictiveness, lacking due process, rife with leaks, and now seeking to negotiate with Congress.” Irrelevant in-depth personal information.

“I am being investigated and judged by my political opponents. This is the Soviet Union,” Gaetz wrote in a letter to Mississippi Republican Michael Guest and Pennsylvania Democrat Susan Wilder. Susan Wild wrote.

A spokesman for the Ethics Commission declined to comment on the letter.

The committee said in June that some of the allegations against Gaetz “worthy of continued review” and that additional allegations had been “identified.”

The panel said it was investigating whether Gates may have “engaged in sexual misconduct and illegal drug use, accepted inappropriate gifts, provided privileges and benefits to individuals with whom he had a personal relationship, and attempted to obstruct government investigations into his conduct.”

But in the same statement in June, the committee said it “will not take further action at this time” and/or accept allegations that he may have shared inappropriate images or videos on the House floor, misused national identity records, or diverted campaign funds for personal use. Bribery or improper payment.

Gaetz is one of the most high-profile members of the far-right Republican Party in Congress.

He helped lead a party effort to oust former Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in 2023 and has maintained a close alliance with Republican presidential candidate Trump.

In April, McCarthy claimed that the reason he was no longer speaker was because “an individual” wanted him to “stop an ethics complaint because he had a relationship with a 17-year-old.”

“Now, did he do that? I don’t know,” McCarthy said of Gaetz. “But ethics is looking at it. There are other people who have gone to jail for it. He wanted me to be able to influence it.”

Gates It is said Help Trump prepare for the September 10 presidential debate with Democratic candidate Vice President Kamala Harris.

Read more CNBC politics coverage

Gates claimed in Thursday’s letter that Joel Greenberg, a former Florida tax official and one-time friend of Gates, told a “jailhouse informant” that Greenberg “planned to inform me of sexual contact with a minor.” Lies about one thing to reduce his own sexual behavior.” imprisonment. “

Greenberg pleaded guilty in 2021 to charges including sex trafficking of underage girls in connection with Gaetz’s federal criminal investigation.

Gaetz wrote in the letter that Greenberg told the informant that Greenberg’s victims were “willing to accept Greenberg’s lies for future financial gain.”

In February 2023, the Department of Justice decided not to file criminal charges against Gaetz.

Three months later, the House Ethics Committee reauthorized an investigation into Gaetz.

The congressmen in the letter also accused the Justice Department of leaking information about him to the New York Times, claiming that “the Biden DOJ hates me” because “I asked their senior officials the toughest questions.”

About The Author

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *