House Ethics Committee to Investigate Matt Gaetz

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The top Democrat and Republican on the Ethics Committee said they were investigating Gaetz for a variety of potential violations, including both possible illegal activity and house rules violations.

The committee is aware of public allegations that Representative Matt Gaetz may have been guilty of sexual misconduct and / or illicit drug use, shared inappropriate images or videos on the House floor, misused state identification information, campaign funds has commuted to personal use and / or accepted bribes, inappropriate tips, or illicit gifts, in violation of house rules, laws or other standards of conduct, ” Florida Ethics Chairman Ted Deutch and Indiana ranking Republican member Jackie Walorski said in a joint statement.

The House Ethics panel also said it was opening an investigation into whether New York GOP representative Tom Reed was guilty of sexual misconduct.

Federal investigators are investigating allegations that Gaetz had sex with an underage girl who was 17 at the time and other women who were given drugs and money in violation of sex trafficking and prostitution laws. Joel Greenberg, a Gaetz employee, is likely to strike a plea deal with federal prosecutors over the charges he is facing, his attorney and prosecutors said in court Thursday, potentially putting additional legal pressure on the congressman.

Gaetz has denied any wrongdoing. He will make his first public appearance on Friday since an interview with Fox News he did last week, hours after the investigation went public.

Gaetz’s office said in a statement Friday, “Again, the office will reiterate that these allegations are downright false and have not been validated by any single human willing to put their name after them.”

Gaetz loses one more staff member as the fallout from the investigation continues

The House Ethics Committee also investigated a CNN report last week that Gaetz shared images of naked women with his colleagues, including on the House floor. Two sources told CNN that Gaetz showed them the footage.

The House Ethics Committee often puts its own investigations on hold or conflicts with the Department of Justice while a federal investigation is ongoing.

A Republican, Rep. Illinois’s Adam Kinzinger called on Gaetz to step down on Thursday. House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy of California said last week that the allegations against Gaetz were serious, but he also noted that Gaetz had denied them. A senior House GOP source said Gaetz is unlikely to be removed from his committees unless there is an indictment.

The ethics committee’s investigation into Reed comes from a former lobbyist who accused Reed of sexual misconduct at a Minnesota pub in 2017 last month in a Washington Post report. After the accusation went public, Reed apologized and said that he took ‘full responsibility’ and announced that he will not seek an office by 2022.

CNN’s Ryan Nobles contributed to this report.

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