By admin 
Reports of parties involving drugs, alcohol and young women that were reportedly attended by the president-elect Donald Trump’s pick for Attorney General Matt Gaetzare in the hands of House ethics investigators, who are under pressure to release their findings on the former Florida congressman.
The evidence regarding some of the salacious allegations against Gaetz emerged in a civil lawsuit filed by a friend of the Florida Republican against another ex-Gaetz associate, who is now in prison.
Several witnesses who gave statements in the civil case — including the woman Gaetz is accused of having sex with when she was a minor in 2017 — testified before the House of Representatives committee.
The House Ethics Committee’s investigation into Gaetz, initially launched in 2021, faced several obstacles, including a lack of access to data collected by a federal criminal investigation into Gaetz. The congressional investigation gathered steam, however, as lawmakers were pointed toward the civil lawsuit, which has played out in Orlando federal court for the past 18 months. Key evidence there remains hidden, but congressional investigators have obtained other non-public evidence in the case, sources told CNN.
What happens to the materials collected by the House of Representatives ethics panel, including a draft report? lined up for release before Gaetz resigned to take over as attorney general, a key question for lawmakers as the Senate considers whether to confirm the former congressman, one of Congress’ most controversial members. several controversial choices of Trump for his cabinet.
“If the report contains the information the committee received from the (civil) lawsuit, it would be very damaging to the congressman,” a source familiar with the congressional investigation told CNN.
In addition to the House Ethics Committee investigation, Gaetz was separately investigated by the U.S. Department of Justice for alleged sex trafficking, obstruction of justice and other possible crimes, but prosecutors declined to include any costs.
Gaetz has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, including ever having sex with a minor or paying for sex.
“These allegations are fabricated and would constitute false testimony before Congress,” Gaetz said in a statement to CNN. “This false smear following a three-year criminal investigation should be viewed with great skepticism.”
It is not clear what information discovered by ethics investigators made it into the final report. Notably, Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee, which will consider Gaetz’s nomination, have asked that the ethics panel hand over not only its report, but also the underlying materials. A lawyer for the former minor woman has also called for the report to be released.
However, some witnesses who participated in both the DOJ and Hill investigations are not eager to see the report made public, people familiar with their thinking told CNN, as these witnesses hope to move forward with their lives.
The House committee abandoned plans for a closed-door meeting on Friday, when lawmakers were expected to consider publishing the report.
One Gaetz friend is suing another
Gaetz came onto the radar of Justice Department investigators as part of an extensive investigation into his former associate Joel Greenberg, who, after initially facing 33 charges, pleaded guilty in 2021. up to six federal chargesincluding sex trafficking of a child.
Greenberg, a former Seminole County tax collector, is serving a 11 years in prison and cooperated with federal investigators.
Ultimately, the federal case against Gaetz was closed last year after prosecutors recommended no charges be filed against the congressman. The House Ethics Committee’s investigation into Gaetz — who took his adversarial relationship with House leadership to the next level by taking charge last year overthrow of Kevin McCarthy as speaker – was revived after the DOJ concluded its case.
Meanwhile, Christopher Dorworth, a Gaetz friend, businessman and owner of the Florida home where the alleged sexual encounter with the underage girl took place in 2017, has indicted Greenberg and members of his family, accusing them of conspiring to make several false claims about him, because Dorworth refused to help Greenberg obtain a pardon from Trump. Dorworth, a former member of the Florida House, also sued the minor victim.
The lawsuit resulted in an extensive discovery process, including testimony from key witnesses who also participated in the Justice Department investigation but had never spoken publicly. The formerly underage woman and her friend who took her to the party both testified in the case. Gaetz’s ex-girlfriend provided an affidavit.
The women’s statements remain sealed. Only one long-term storage of two days of Dorworth and other discovery materials obtained in the civil case are public. In the statement, the attorneys who questioned Dorworth recited portions of the transcripts of the deposition that are sealed and specifically describe the previously minor woman’s claims. In one of the questions, the attorneys said she testified that she had sex with Gaetz on an air hockey table at Dorworth’s home while Dorworth watched.
Dorworth vehemently denied the claim in the statement, testifying that he did not know the woman and saying he was not even in his own home during the meeting in question.
The underage woman’s friend who took her to the party testified that she, too, had sex with Gaetz at the same gathering, police said. description of her testimony in the Dorworth statement.
When asked about the girlfriend’s claim that she had sex with Gaetz, Dorworth suggested in the impeachment that both women made up their stories.
“What I didn’t really think about when this whole thing started was the idea that people would lie to themselves in these stories because of Matt’s political celebrity,” Dorworth said. “I really believe this happened.”
The girlfriend additionally stated that she and the underage female had access to “alcohol, cocaine, ecstasy, aka molly, and marijuana” at the party, according to portions of her sealed affidavit that were quoted in another public document in case.
Another woman, identified only as “LP” in court documentsfiled an affidavit in the case alleging that a week later that summer she attended a party with “alcohol, drugs, middle-aged men, and young and attractive women,” and said Gaetz was among those in attendance.
Dorworth dropped the lawsuit in Septemberbut his statement and other details in the case became public as part of a constant struggle on whether the people he sued were entitled to attorneys’ fees. The Miami Herald is also trying to unearth more documents in the case.
Attorneys also questioned Dorworth about a trip to the Bahamas that Gaetz took with the woman who brought the 17-year-old to the party and the previously minor woman, who may have been 18 at the time of the trip.
In his statement, Dorworth said he believed both women who traveled with Gaetz to the Bahamas were adults at the time of the trip.
The dismissal brings House’s investigation to a standstill
The House Ethics Committee investigation was launched by House Democrats in 2021 but was put on hold while the Justice Department completed its criminal investigation.
When the committee eventually returned to its investigation, it appeared to struggle without access to Justice Department files, people with knowledge of the House of Representatives investigation told CNN.
A witness who spoke to Hill investigators early last year described them as “out of their depth” and said they asked questions that “seemed based on news reports.”
The committee then turned its attention in mid-2024 to Dorworth’s civil lawsuit, which produced a wealth of evidence. Congressional investigators were given access to both public and non-public documents in the case, and also brought in witnesses for testimony, sources told CNN.
The House committee had plans to meet last week and release the report, but those plans were disrupted by Trump’s announcement that he had selected Gaetz as his pick for attorney general. With the news, Gaetz almost immediately submitted his resignation — a move that effectively forced the ethics investigation to end and jeopardized the publication of his report.
CNN’s Casey Gannon and Annie Grayer contributed to this report.
For more CNN news and newsletters, create an account at CNN.com