Matt Gaetz can run, but can he hide?
Two days before Christmas, and not long after former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) withdrew as President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for attorney general, the bipartisan House Ethics Committee released the report of its investigation into the former congressman’s conduct.
The committee found “substantial evidence” that Gaetz paid many women to have sex with him; committed statutory rape of a 17-year-old girl; frequently used illegal drugs, including cocaine and ecstasy; accepted gifts greater than the amount allowed by the House from an individual connected to the medical marijuana industry; failed to disclose purchases and sales of stocks and cryptocurrencies; enlisted his chief of staff to help a woman with whom he had a sexual relationship obtain a passport by falsely claiming she was his constituent; and obstructed the committee’s investigation by failing to respond to subpoena, written questions or producing relevant documents.
The committee did not investigate allegations that Gaetz shared inappropriate images and videos on the House floor; used campaign funds to pay personal expenses; and accepted a bribe.
Two Republicans and five Democrats on the committee voted to publish the report. While three Republicans concluded that doing so when the subject of the investigation was no longer a member of Congress constituted a “dangerous departure” from House practices, it is important to note that they did not challenge the committee’s findings.
In a democracy — where sunshine, the best disinfectant, is conducive to public morality — the Ethics Committee’s well-documented conclusions should command the wide attention. All the more so because Gaetz has hinted he might run for Marco Rubio’s Senate seat or for governor of Florida.
The Ethics Committee confirmed that Gaetz paid tens of thousands of dollars to 11 women with whom he had sex and/or used drugs between 2017 and 2020. Many of them were initially identified through a website that connects older men with younger women seeking “mutually beneficial relationships.” Gaetz distributed the money through PayPal, Venmo and Cash App; an account held under a pseudonymous email; cash; checks; and third parties.
Direct testimony and contemporaneous text messages indicated that Gaetz and the women understood “the transactional nature” of their arrangements. One woman recalled that “99 percent of the time that [Gaetz and I] were hanging out, there was sex involved.” Another said that after a sexual encounter, he gave her a $750 check with “tuition reimbursement” on the memo line. A third woman said, “it’s frustrating to know I lived the reality he denies.” Several women cited fear of retaliation as the reason they declined to testify.
Caught, so to speak, with his pants down, Gaetz acknowledged that he “probably partied, womanized, drank and smoked more than I should have earlier in life.” But he denied that he paid for sex: “Someone is trying to recategorize my generosity to ex-girlfriends as something more untoward.” “Giving funds to someone you are dating, that they didn’t ask for, and that isn’t ‘charged for,’” he fumed, “is now prostitution?”
Gaetz also insisted that the decision of Justice officials to end their investigation without filing charges meant he was “FULLY EXONERATED,” even though “they hated me.”
The decision not to indict Gaetz probably doesn’t mean investigators failed to find evidence of unethical or illegal behavior. After all, the most recent federal sex trafficking law, adopted in 1986, covers only allegations involving coercion, fraud or transporting a minor from one state to another or across international borders for sex. The alleged rape occurred in Florida — and the statute of limitations on that alleged crime has expired. The other sexual encounters were consensual. The Mann Act of 1910 is broader in scope, but the Department of Justice has tended to apply it only to situations in which victims were egregiously exploited.
Therefore, federal prosecutors may have concluded that the state of Florida — where unauthorized possession of controlled substances and soliciting the services of a person to engage in prostitution are criminal offenses, even if the sex is consensual — was the appropriate venue for an indictment.
Whatever their reasons, federal prosecutors undercut the MAGA mantra that “a weaponized” Biden administration Department of Justice conducted “sham witch hunts” against anyone who “ruffled the feathers of the Radical Left.” To date, Gaetz has made no attempt to explain why the department that he pledged to destroy if confirmed as attorney general gave him a free pass.
Will Gaetz run for political office again? Time will tell. That said, we don’t know whether time will heal all wounds — or wound all heels.
Glenn C. Altschuler is the Thomas and Dorothy Litwin Emeritus Professor of American Studies at Cornell University.