Former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., took to social media Wednesday to continue his offensive against a House Ethics Report about him that was released this week.
The House Ethics Committee accused Gaetz of "regularly" paying for sex, including once with a 17-year-old girl, and purchasing and using illicit drugs as a member of Congress, as lawmakers released the conclusions of a nearly four-year investigation that helped sink his nomination for attorney general.
Gaetz resigned from Congress after Trump nominated him to be attorney general. He withdrew his name after he faced an uphill battle to be confirmed.
The 37-page report by the bipartisan panel includes explicit details of sex-filled parties and vacations that Gaetz, 42, took part in from 2017 to 2020 while the Republican represented Florida's western Panhandle.
Gaetz said the "prostitutes" testified there was never an agreement to exchange sex for money and that the 17-year-old said he was at party when community gate logs showed otherwise.
"The alleged 'minor victim' abandoned similar allegations against my friend in a civil lawsuit when confronted with her inconsistent statements," Gaetz wrote. "The alleged 'minor victim' tried unsuccessfully to shake me down for money."
Gaetz said he provided financial support to about a dozen women he dated while in his mid-30s and he admitted helping a 27-year-old woman he was dating get a passport appointment.
"I regularly did this for Floridians in a travel bind, as was my job," Gaetz said. "The Biden/Garland DOJ investigated me for years without accusing me of any crime."
The former congressman argued the Ethics Committee's star witness was Joel Greenberg, who's currently in prison after pleading guilty to sex trafficking a minor.
"Their investigation exists to do what the voters of my district won’t — remove me from office," Gaetz said in September.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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