A new report from ABC News says the House Ethics Committee has been covering new ground in its renewed investigation of Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), which could touch on a wide range of potential wrongdoing.
Though the panel as a body of Congress can’t bring criminal charges, its findings can nonetheless spur substantial impacts. A report from the panel accusing ex-GOP Congressman George Santos of New York of misusing campaign funds on personal expenses preceded the full House expelling him.
ABC specifically says that the Ethics panel has been “expanding its contact with individuals who have ties to the initial Justice Department investigation into Gaetz.” The Justice Department’s efforts, which concluded without criminal charges for the avowedly pro-Trump Congressman, included an investigation of potential involvement by Gaetz in child sex trafficking. A former associate of his, Joel Greenberg, received a lengthy prison sentence on criminal offenses including the same.
Gaetz remains dismissive, having provided a statement expressing as much to ABC. “It’s great to see the Ethics Committee has interests beyond trading stocks. They seem to be quite the unusual whales,” he told the network.
Past statements by the committee indicate additional interest by panel members perhaps beyond the feds. A 2021 statement from the chairman and ranking member said the panel was “aware of public allegations that Representative Matt Gaetz may have engaged in sexual misconduct and/or illicit drug use, shared inappropriate images or videos on the House floor, misused state identification records, converted campaign funds to personal use, and/or accepted a bribe, improper gratuity, or impermissible gift, in violation of House Rules, laws, or other standards of conduct.”
The committee put past investigative efforts related to Gaetz on hold, leaving things with the feds. References to potential bribery implicating the Congressman seemingly hearken to “whether a 2018 trip to the Bahamas involving Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz and several young women was part of an orchestrated effort to illegally influence Gaetz in the area of medical marijuana,” as CNN previously described an area of federal interest.
