The Ethics Committee is firmly looking at the allegations that Matt Gaetz paid an underage teen for sex when he was twice her age.
February 2, 2024

I wonder why this investigation was dropped in the first place. And do they have new information now that the DoJ didn't? Stay tuned! Via the Daily Beast:

As a House Ethics probe into Rep. Matt Gaetz heats up, investigators are zeroing in on the sex trafficking allegations against him, multiple sources told The Daily Beast.

Staffers on the Ethics Committee have been reaching out to alleged witnesses to potential sex crimes, according to two sources familiar with the Ethics probe. And the panel has also been trying to obtain records from the Department of Justice related to its investigation into Gaetz, according to one of those sources.

Prosecutors announced they decided against charging Gaetz in February 2023, following a 30-month investigation into allegations that the congressman paid to have sex with a minor who was half his age in 2017.

Just before publication of this report, CNN reported that the Ethics Committee had reached out to the woman Gaetz allegedly had sex with when she was underage.

Gaetz told a colleague he worked to throw Kevin McCarthy out of the speaker's position was because of this probe:

According to private correspondence reviewed by The Daily Beast, Gaetz indicated to a friend that his effort to undercut, isolate, and ultimately remove McCarthy was, indeed, payback for the ethics probe.

The Daily Beast reviewed these communications, but is not allowed to quote from them for fear that Gaetz would be able to identify the recipient. In fact, the source who provided the communications was so nervous about retribution that The Daily Beast isn’t allowed to say in what form the correspondence took place. Suffice to say, however, it’s clear from the communications that Gaetz’s targeting of McCarthy wasn’t borne out of his concern for reckless Washington spending.

In the communications, Gaetz singled out McCarthy individually for reviving an Ethics Committee probe against him, and he indicated that his animus toward McCarthy was over that investigation.

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