, that teenager witnessed matt gaetz having sex with the 17-year-old minutes after matt gaetz entered a party. and immediately upon meeting the 17-year-old. the committee report says the committee received testimony that victim "a" and representative gaetz had sex twice during the party including at least once in the presence of other party attendees. victim "a" recalled receiving $400 in cash from representative gaetz that evening, which she understood to be payment for sex. at the time she had just completed her junior year of high school. victim "a" acknowledged that she was under the influence of ecstasy during her sexual encounters with representative gaetz during the july 15, 2017 party and recalled seeing representative gaetz use cocaine at that party. last month elon musk was part of a group on donald trump's plane who convinced donald trump to choose matt gaetz to be attorney general of the united states of america. in that passage of the ethics committee report matt gaetz is described as committing state and federal crimes. the state and federal crime of using cocaine. the s

confirmation hearing would have been held if matt gaetz ever made it that far. we'll get senator whitehouse's reaction to the gaetz report next. ha ha. haha! then he switched to mucinex nightshift. mucinex is uniquely formulated to leave your system faster, so you wake up ready to go. uhh, hank! try mucinex nightshift and feel the difference. mega-heist! -yeah! -i can't go back to jail! wait, did you rob my bank? sharing is caring, bro! let's make like dice and roll. ♪♪ lawmakers are trying to shut down planned parenthood. the health care of more than 2 million people is at stake. our right to basic reproductive health care is being stolen from us. planned parenthood believes everyone deserves health care. it's a human right. future generations are beginning to lose the rights we fought for. the rights for ourselves, our kids, and our grandkids. gone. just like that. i can't believe this is the world we live in, where we're losing the freedom to control our own bodies. last year, politicians in 47 states introduced bills that would block people from getting the s

matt gaetz giving payments to women. so they're putting everything together here in this very searing, damaging house ethics committee report that matt gaetz has been trying to stop from having made public. but now it is out there and he's denying these allegations against him. >> caitlin, how is gaetz pushing back now? >> well, wolf, he went to court this morning to try to stop the release of the report was totally unsuccessful. that fell flat very quickly. but he's also taken to social media to put his message out there. one of the things he says is giving funds to someone you are dating that they didn't ask for, and that isn't charged for sex is now prostitution. there is a reason they did this to me in a christmas eve eve report, and not in a courtroom of any kind and challenge witnesses. when he did make that court filing earlier today to try to stop the committee, he was claiming they were defaming him. they were invading his privacy. he even signed a declaration saying, everything that i am saying in court is true

people knew what the deal was with matt gaetz and what he had been up to., he didn't have much in the web defenders. i mean, what i would suggest is important as we contemplate a new president starting january 20, read the report and then contemplate the fact the president nominated him to be the attorney general of the united states. sit with that for a minute or two and think about what that means for the seriousness with which the republican party and president elect trump is taking the rather serious job of governing the most powerful country on the planet. >> a very important point and they still seem to be applauding him are not being critical post report so that tells you a lot. thank you so much. have a happy holiday and appreciate you taking the time. >>> trump has promised to do a lot of things on his first day in office, day that's rapidly approaching. i will talk to two who know more of the extent of accusative -- executive power. what would you pay for an ipad pro? i only paid $42 on dealdash. dealdash.com, online auctions since 2009. this play

november 13, 2024 representative matt gaetz announced his resignation from congress. the committee on ethics from the house of representatives is urgedto continue investigating and release its investigation into former members of the house. in 1987 the committee on ethics of the house of representatives written released a report on outpatient on misuseof campaign funds. in the 1990s, the committee on ethics of the house of representatives announced a report on investigations of sexual misconduct allegations which included having sexual intercourse with a minor in making sexual offenses towards a congressional employee against former representative don luke following his resignation from congress. in 2006 the committee on ethics of the house of representatives released a report on its investigation of sexual misconduct allegations which included sending sexually explicit messages to at least one minor against former representative mark foley following his resignation from congress. in 2011, the committee on ethics of the house of representatives continued its investiga

it appears this matt gaetz report will be made public. gaetz admitting in a social media post moments ago that he was a womanizer and partier, which he said is embarrassing, though not criminal. do you support the release of this report? if not, do you know of any efforts to stop it? >> i don't have any. >> i don't, thankfully, i'm not on the ethics committee. i don't know what's in the report. it's it's not entirely unprecedented for them to release a report on a former member. >> the last time that happened was bill who represented nashville. >> i knew bill because when he left congress, he ended up in my home town of hopkinsville, kentucky, managing a business there. but, you know, gaetz is going to have an opportunity to defend this, and i'm sure he'll be given plenty of tv time on cnn and other networks to defend himself against any allegations in the report that may or may not be true. i have no idea. but i know that the ethics committee voted to release it. so it's going to be released, and america will be able to to see what's in t

the justice department declined to comment on the house ethic's committee matt gaetz report and also has not commented why it decided not to file charges. last month after donald trump initially picked him to be his attorney jeb, gaetz withdraw from consideration amid concerns from senators about allegations of sexual misconduct, but over the weekend, gaetz teased the possibility of running for the united states senate during a turning point usa event in arizona. >> it seems i may not have had enough support in the united states senate, maybe i'll just run for marco rubio's vacant seat in the united states senate and join some of those folks. >> joining me now is paul butler, msnbc legal analyst and former federal prosecutor and david lly and msnbc analyst and former congressman. the evidence is salacious and wild and yet it's evident. this is evidence that this house ethics committee considered and includes $1600 check from joel greenberg, a convicted felon doing time in a florida prison right now, a check to matt gaetz. several text messages between a contact listed as, quote, matt

so, what that means for matt gaetz.he thing i think about with matt gaetz after he say he was not going to try to become attorney general he said maybe i will be a special counselor. biden administration has gone going on and on about how you don't need to be senate confirmed to be a special counselor. so someone like matt gaetz could get more accomplished for donald trump as a special counselor. >> and oan one american news host and special counselor. >> and cameo the cameo where you record messages from. >> for money. >> yeah. >> he does that or he did that. >> bears mentioning this report seemed to -- i don't know if it was central but played a role in all the machinations around gaetz maybe even securing the attorney general pick from trump right? there was vaping timing concerning the report was set to be released, then all of a sudden, trump makes a decision on air force one taking a ride with matt gaetz he is going to announce matt gaetz ace his pick for attorney general. >> and than they don't vote to release it

we begin with that bombshell report on former congressman matt gaetz, by the house ethics committee. a report so blistering you cannot enunciate. the culmination of a years long investigation, 37 pages, compiled by gaetz former peers in congress. between 2017 and 2020, gaetz regularly paid women for engaging in sexual activity with him. that quote, in 2017 gaetz engaged in sexual activity with a 17-year-old girl. that from 2017 to 2019, gaetz quote, used or possessed illegal drugs including cocaine and ecstasy but hates, quote, accepted's, including transportation and lodging and gaetz arrange for his chief of staff to assist a woman with whom he engaged in sexual activity in obtaining a passport falsely indicating that she was a constituent. that he no knowingly and willfully sought to impede the investigation and gaetz conduct reflects, it concludes, quote, there is substantial evidence the representative gaetz violated house rules and other standards of conduct prohibiting prostitution, statutory , illicit drug use, impermissible gifts, special favors an obstruction of congress. i

matt gaetz. he has a big career set up. >> that guy, i just described in that report, that is trump, yesterday, calling him a friend of mine. saying he has a big career set up. and here is prominent maga mouthpiece steve bannon. >> take the ethic's report and shove it up your ass. that is what i think. gaetz must return, like trump returned. don't back down. double down. >> double down. i don't even know literally what he means in this context which is disturbing. but, i mean in normal times here is the thing. lesser scandals were career enders. driving politicians out of public life with a cloud of shame hanging over their heads, they would have to return donations, just google mark foley and learn more. there is no note from republicans, so, trump's party clearly lives by what seems to be a different standard. a lower one. it is clear, at least for now. that somehow matt gaetz still represents the future of that party. joining me now is mrs. crockett and katie fang. she is a long time attorney

themselves, including a victim, a 17 year old girl at the time in july 2017 who was having sex with matt gaetz at a party. the committee writes about that victim. the committee received testimony. the victim, a and representative gaetz, had sex twice during the party, including at least once in the presence of other party attendees. victim, a recalled receiving $400 in cash from representative gaetz that evening, which she understood to be payment for sex. at the time she had just completed her junior year of high school. the federal government, the federal justice department did investigate him for federal sex trafficking violations and other possible crimes did not charge him with anything. so the house ethics committee picked up its investigation, and they found not just this situation with this then underage girl, but they say that many women that gaetz was having sex with were receiving money for drugs or for the sex to the tune of hundreds, if not thousands of dollars. and then on top of that, this violation of standards of conduct in the house, it includes him doing drugs. another quote

it is a and disturbing report on the former congressman, matt gaetz. so the republican run house ethics committee said that there was substantial evidence that gaetz paid tens of thousands of dollars to women for sex and drugs, all while he was serving in congress. most importantly, the panel also found that gaetz had sex with a 17 year old high schooler in summer 2017. the report concluded that this violated florida's statutory rape laws. now, over the past few years, as gaetz has faced all this legal scrutiny, he has vehemently denied that he ever paid anyone for sex. he also denies any illegal drug use. and in a social media post after the report came out, he said, quote, there's a reason they did this to me in a christmas eve eve report and not in a courtroom of any kind where i could present evidence and challenge witnesses. but look, there was a lot of evidence the committee examined 14,000 pages of documents. the committee interviewed many of the key witnesses, the report even includes texts like you mentioned, of gaetz allegedly asking women for

what that means for matt gaetz.ter he said he was not going to try to become attorney general. he said maybe i will become a special counsel. the biden administration has been going on and on about how you don't need to be senate confirmed to be a special counsel. someone like matt gaetz can probably get more accomplished for trump. >> and he could be news host and special counsel. >> don't you record for money. >> yeah, for money. >> he did that too. >> this report, seemed to, i don't know if it was central but it played a role in all the machinations around gaetz maybe even securing the pick from trump. there was strange timing as it's concerned. this report is set to be released then all of a sudden trump makes this decision on air force one, taking a ride with matt gaetz that he's going to announce matt gaetz as his pick. >> he's no longer the nominee to be. the attorney general. >> some people read into this sort of flurry of action that prevented the report from being released as evidence that matt gaetz reall

matt gaetz, who's got a big career set up and i just want to say hello to matt. >> now, that was before this report came out at the same event and before the report, gaetz himself trolled some of his critics while assessing his own future. >> many have asked which perch i will be fighting from next. my fellow floridians have asked me to i the governor's mansion in tallahassee. maybe special counsel to go after the insider trading for my former colleagues in congress. it seems i may not have had enough support in the united states senate. maybe i'll just run for marco rubio's vacant seat in the united states senate and join some of those folks. >> so does this report change that? my first source tonight is cnn crime and justice correspondent katelyn polantz. thank you so much for being here, caitlin, on this christmas eve eve. can you walk us through the pages and pages of evidence that the committee found that they say backs up their report? >> yes, sarah, that evidence that the committee is putting out there, not just in narrative form as part of this report that's about 40 pages long,

the only possible conclusion: matt gaetz paid to have sex with the babadook. now, one of gaetz's accusers also says she witnessed him having sex with a 17-year-old, and gaetz today withdrew from the ag nomination 45 minutes after a press outlet called to say they were going to report on a second sexual encounter between gaetz and a 17-year-old in 2017. [booing] reportedly, the second sexual encounter included another adult woman. which is upsetting, but not as upsetting as this detail. they had sex with gaetz on an air hockey table. an air hockey table? who was this three-way with? dave and buster? what is it on? sounds cooling and refreshing. are you ready for it to get worse? because the sex on the air hockey table happened at a house party while the homeowner watched. why on earth are you watching? "hold on. i got winner!" so gaetz dropped out on twitter or something? he dropped out on social media, posting "while the momentum was strong, it was clear that my confirmation was unfairly becoming a distraction to the critical work of the trump/vance transition.

of evidence that the committee has collected over time is this pattern of what they would accuse matt gaetzansactions among 12 different women, which they use messaging apps and cash apps, venmo, things along those lines to connect the dots between gaetz's sexual activity and these women. and also the testimony from the women, where they claim they believed the activity they engaged in was the result of these payments from gaetz. in particular, there was a 2018 trip to the bahamas where gaetz and four different women went to the bahamas. he engaged in sex with all these women. one of the women testified to the committee that she believed the trip to the bahamas was payment for the sex she was providing. another witness, one of the women said they saw gaetz taking ecstacy on that trip. this was all while he was a member of congress. gaetz has repeatedly continued to deny any allegations that he had sex with anyone who was underaged. he's admitted to smoking to drinking to excess during this period of his life. but this morning on his own x account he is rebutting those claims specifically ab

when we look at this as recently as yesterday, you had matt gaetz floating the idea of another run for office, knowing this report, right, was likely coming out. today you have trump ally steve bannon saying, quote, gaetz has to come back. don't back down. double down in this world that we live in, let's say matt gaetz does launch a potential bid for office. does any of this serve as disqualifying in any way for voters? >> well, it used to. it would have. it's hard to know in this environment we find ourselves. now, the one thing that's very clear is, you know, gaetz has a lot of enemies. um, he has people in his own party that all they had to do was just go with their party chair and go, go with the committee chair and go with precedent. and this would have had to be leaked, but at least it wouldn't have been put out in this way. this lets you know this guy has posed some serious people and serious places that we're talking about this tonight, but but does it make him a martyr or a villain to florida? voters will probably find out pretty soon. >> when we look at this, just because mat

let's get right to the house ethics committee report on matt gaetz. we're learning more and more about the sex and drug allegations against the former republican congressman, who was forced to bow out as president elect. trump's choice for u.s. attorney general. cnn's katelyn polantz has been studying the report and the supporting evidence that was released just a little while ago. caitlin, give us the latest details. well, wolf, the house has released this report. >> they've also released evidence that they gathered for it, and they spoke to half a dozen witnesses who they say were able to put together the story. and they also looked at text messages. they traced payments, the story of matt gaetz for more than 20 times, paying tens of thousands of dollars toward women, either for sex or for drugs. and they're saying in those findings that it shows matt gaetz was engaged in commercial sex. so paying women in exchange for sex, at one point paying a 17 year old for sex, having sex with her at a party in 2017. in july of that year twice, and giving her $

the house ethics committee has just released a report on former congressman matt gaetz. something gaetz never wanted the public to see. what we are learning about numerous allegations, including illicit drug use and sexual misconduct, and with record breaking travel numbers this holiday, drivers are getting a little gift. the cheapest gas prices in years. i'm sara sidner with kate baldwin and john berman. john berman is off today. this is cnn news central all right. we've got some breaking news to begin with. the house ethics committee found evidence that former congressman matt gaetz paid tens of thousands of dollars to women for sex or drugs on at least 20 occasions. cnn's lauren fox is live in dc. lauren, this is, um, you know, according to a final draft of the panel's report that cnn has obtained. what more can you tell us about what is in this report? >> yeah, like you said, sarah, these this effort by the house ethics committee spanned years. and i want to read just a part of the committee's finding. they say, quote, the committee determined there is substantial ev

i don't know that he will view matt gaetz as a winner over the long haul. he also values people who can be personally in control. you know, he's famously doesn't use drugs, doesn't use alcohol and never has. and so you have to think that that the revelations in the report probably lower him in esteem with president-elect trump. >> yeah. max, let me let you have the last word here. >> your thoughts. >> look, i mean, matt gaetz is obviously a troubled human being with a checkered past, but what the real test here will be the real litmus test is how does the maga base continue to receive matt gaetz going forward? and what you see from him is actually this exuberant confidence that he will be stronger amongst the maga base than ever before. how far we have come from the wholesome values that once was the republican base. so we're going to see this play out in florida statewide politics, perhaps a gubernatorial campaign or a senate campaign. but i suspect that matt gaetz's days in washington, d.c., are not coming back anytime soon. >> yeah, it's interesting beca

matt gaetz can remain an ally. he's going to be an anchor on right wing propaganda outlet called oan moving forward and for trump, and for matt gaetz, he knows that trump has been a chief ally of his over the years, throughout doj, house ethics, when speaker mccarthy was openly talking from the floor of the republican national convention about matt gaetz potentially going to jail, donald trump stood by him every step of the way and nominated him to be his attorney general. he's no longer his ag pick, and there's really no political capital needed to expend what he has put out there in defense of matt gaetz. >> let's do liz cheney now. donald trump keeps talking about how he thinks she should be investigated by the fbi. there's an interim report from a congress member who is trying to blast open the january 6th committee investigation. liz cheney pushing back and saying we laid out all of our evidence. we laid it out in the public. we meticulously went through everything. we have republicans interviewed, including t

you have a leader of a nation who's about to be sworn in in a month, who is elevating people like matt gaetzyou know what he's all right to represent you and your family and your kids. even what's potentially in that report. it's just shocking. >> it's shocking, joe. and gaetz like i said seems to want to fight back. he's threaten that after the house ethics committee threatened to release his report he threw another idea that taking his seat in congress, filing a motion to expose congress members who used public funds for sexual misconduct settlements. it speaks to the depravity of the republican party and what they have sunk to. >> donald trump is humanly incapable of shame. and every republican has learned from trump. and what they've learned ayman is never apologize, never acknowledge wrong doing. lie, lie, lie. fight back, fight back, never look weak. and that's what matt gaetz is doing. it's worse than what basil said. no longer do republicans no longer self-police, it's worse than that. republican voters want these kinds of candidates. most of trump's voters loved the fact that he is

report even though, as you said, the report never mentions that charges were never brought against matt gaetzere. and to mollie hemingway's point, it's because there was issue with credibility in the witnesses. two of them. howard: well, megan, the report says there's substantial evidence that gaetz violated federal laws, state law, house rules. it's bipartisan, it's unanimous x. gaetz says, well, he didn't know this high school junior, didn't know her age. but if you're 35 and you're having an encounter with a 17-year-old, maybe you ought to ask? >> sure, yes, absolutely. but i also think there's more to this, right? i think the republicans just as much as democrats didn't like matt gaetz -- howard: so it was bipartisan. >> it had to be -- howard: no p i mean, the attitudes towards the former congressman. >> absolutely. howard: yeah. >> the day before this was released, he said he was thinking about running for governor or senate in florida. i don't think the republican people want him in in the party for just this reason. there's a lack of judgment with him. howard, and megan, the report al

hour, cnn has learned that the house ethics committee has secretly voted to release its report on matt gaetzw it's going to be made public. that's our expectation at this hour. the bombshell reversal follows the committee's decision last month not to release the report, after gaetz abruptly resigned from congress. many lawmakers saw that move to withhold the report as an attempt to bury the years long ethics investigation into gaetz, which looked into allegations of sexual misconduct, illicit drug use and possible bribes. allegations. gaetz has vigorously denied. let's get straight to cnn chief congressional correspondent manu raju up on capitol hill. manu, i have to think this is sending some shockwaves up there on the hill. >> yeah, no question about it. and this, of course, comes despite the opposition from the speaker of the house, mike johnson, who said that this report should not be released because gaetz is now a former member of congress. remember when donald trump named him as the attorney general, his initial attorney general? gaetz then abruptly resigned from congress. many suspec

and we saw what happened with matt gaetz. the court of public opinion pushed matt gaetz to say look, i don't want to be a distraction. the question is will this be along that same line? making kash patel a distraction for donald trump? >> hayes, what you make of that? matt gaetz didn't even make it as confirmation hearings. made it seven days, i think. too many skeletons in the closet. is there a sense that kash patel as the relationships with republican senators to avoid that same fate? >> i mean, i doubt it. i don't believe he has ever been in the senate confirmed. he has never had to go through that process. trump kind of just shuffling around in the various placements where that was not necessary. so he has never had to go through the grind of publicly defending his past statements, of which there have been many. like the opera file on kash patel has to be as long as the files he wants to put together as fbi director on all of us here in the press. the number of things he has said that should disqualify him as being in ou

that didn't happen in this case, because probably because matt gaetz is a loyalist. one of the other allegations in here is that he actually used his official office to help one of these women in 2018. according to this report, representative gaetz arranged for his chief of staff to assist a woman with whom he engaged in sexual activity in obtaining a passport, falsely indicating to the united states department of state that she was a constituent. i mean, it's not just his private behavior now. it's also his public behavior. yeah. >> and even that that is a problem. and if that's something that donald trump knew, we should be able to criticize him for that. but saying that just because it was in an ethics report, it's a bipartisan report. and i imagine that they had much more access to information that we simply don't have. sure, the allegations are truly bad. i said, i'm not a matt gaetz fan, so you're never going to get me to come out and stump for matt gaetz. but what i will say and i'm consistent with this, the fact that these aren't normally these aren't normally

while matt gaetz has said that he does not intend to return to the house seat, he was reelected to in the upcoming 119 congress, gaetz has hinted at a potential run for u.s. senate. >> many have asked which church i will be fighting from next and some of you throughout this conference have even given me a few suggestions, my fellow floridians have asked me to i the governor's mansion in tallahassee, maybe special counsel to go after the insider- trading from my former colleagues in congress, it seems i may not have had enough support in the united states senate, maybe i will run for marco rubio's seat and join some of those folks. >> republican senator marco rubio is leaving his seat in florida after he was tapped by president-elect trump to become secretary of state in the upcoming administration. in this report for gaetz, some of the text messages that were released yesterday from gaetz and some of the women involved are far too explicit and graphic to discuss on television but it overall paints a damning picture of behavior for someone who, a month or so back, donald trump thought

matt gaetz is denying this. he is saying a few days ago on x, he wrote, in my single days, i often sent funds to women i dated, even some i never dated, but who asked? i dated several of these women for years. i never had sexual contact with someone under 18. any claim that i have would be destroyed in court, which is why no such claim was ever made in court. the justice department did look at this. they chose not to charge him. that is why the house ethics committee was then able to pick up this investigation. matt gaetz has already gone to court on his own this morning. kate. he has sued the committee to try to stop the public release of this report that has been obtained by cnn, and he's claiming defamation and an invasion of privacy there. he's also putting in that lawsuit that his attorneys had sent the committee, or he had sent the committee denials of these things, that they found the whole laundry list prostitution, statutory rape, illicit drug use, impermissible gifts, special favors or privileges, and

are there nominees like matt gaetz who should be stopped before that? >> i think the general way things have happened in the past and even now it's a place of traditions of processes is you have a process. you wait to see what the fbi finds. the committee will often do the room follow-up investigation. senators will consider all of that. they will ask questions at a hearing then they make a decision. that is the way it is supposed to go when one of the reasons for this fbi background process is so you can withdraw a nomination that never should go across the starting line because the problems are too large. ideally you wouldn't be in the situation. there are some nominees where there is so much publicly available, problematic information that it may be appropriate for senators to get ahead of this and say it doesn't seem like an appropriate nominee and it shouldn't come to a hearing. and we have process, let it take its course is one that has served the country pretty well. >> there's a lot of tests i think trump and his world to put on the system. you

of an idea of how the sex and drugs, that those were going hand in hand in these rendezvous that matt gaetz was having with women. one of the things that the committee writes deep in this report is, quote, while all the women that the committee interviewed stated their sexual activity with representative gaetz was consensual, at least one woman felt that the use of drugs at the parties and events they attended may have impaired their ability to really know what was going on, or fully consent. indeed, nearly every woman that the committee spoke with could not remember the details of at least one or more of the events they attended with representative gaetz, and attributed that to drug or alcohol consumption. now, a very important reminder here. gaetz was investigated by the justice department for sex trafficking. he was not charged. the justice department did not charge him with any crime. he has not been charged with any crime in the state of florida. what is being found here are violations of house ethics. for the time when he was a member of congress, which of course, he no longer is. cai

it's clear, despite the allegations in the report, matt gaetz does not appear to be going anywhere andgaetz, considering he's no longer a sitting member of congress, and he could show up in january and get sworn in, for instance . >> i do think that's unlikely that he shows up here, and the seat he once held in november. former governor ron desantis has started the process to replace gaetz as a member of congress. i do think that that was part of what vexed the house ethics committee. they lost jurisdiction over gaetz once he was no longer a member of congress. they did have the ability to penalize him in some way, shape or form as a member of congress for violating the house's rules. once he left the house, all they had was an investigation, and that's the purpose of releasing this report, to get the information out in the public. they believe, as they point out in the report, that it was in the public interest to reveal the findings of this long investigation. and it was, of course, an investigation that was conducted using taxpayer money. now, this wasn't a unanimous decision. the c

the house ethics committee has just released its report on former congressman matt gaetz. the report says it found evidence that gaetz paid thousands of dollars for sex and drugs, including paying a 17 year old for sex in 2017. joining me now is democratic congressman sean casten of illinois. congressman, great to have you today. thank you. >> thank you for having me. >> so you pushed for this report's release. are you satisfied that it's now out? >> well, look, this is not a happy day. there's nothing that's positive in this. i'm. i'm happy only in the sense that the house has to hold itself to a higher ethical standard if we're to be, you know, have the trust of the american people. we pushed for the release of this report because we want to make sure that the house continues to hold itself to that standard. and i'm glad that the ethics committee ultimately voted to release it. >> i want to read for you just a bit of some of what we learned. we do know that he's seeking a restraining order against the ethics committee for releasing it, although they've released it. so tha

a damning report, released by the us house ethics committee, says the former congressman, matt gaetz,aid numerous women forsex, including a 17—year—old girl, and regularly used cocaine, marijuana and ecstasy. mr gaetz was donald trump's initial choice to run the justice department. the report concluded there was substantial evidence he broke standards of conduct. he denies wrongdoing, and had tried to block the report's publication. mr gaetz is taking on a new role as a political tv talk show host in the new year, but at a conservative conference, he hinted at a bid for the us senate. it seems i may not have had enough support in the united states senate — maybe i'lljust run for marco rubio�*s vacant seat in the united states senate, and join some of those folks! our correspondent tom bateman has more on the fallout from the house ethics report. well, this was a searing set of findings from the house ethics committee, and ultimately, it puts the spotlight back on to the decision by donald trump last month to nominate matt gaetz for attorney—general, because here you have a decision in

committee report against former congressman and donald trump's first choice to become attorney general, matt gaetz. according to the 37 page report, the ethics committee finds that gaetz, quote, regularly paid women for engaging in sexual activity with him. they also claim that in 2017, gaetz, quote, engaged in sexual activity with a 17 year old girl and that the congressman, quote, used or possessed illegal drugs, including cocaine and ecstasy. now back up their findings. the committee also released pages of documents including text message screenshots between gaetz and unnamed women and one of the exchanges. the committee says that gaetz is asking a woman to get him drugs by referring to, quote, a full complement of party favors before asking her what will she be wearing to his hotel. another screenshot shared by the committee an unnamed woman and gaetz seemed to be arguing over pay when she says the gaetz quote, so i'm not to be taken care of for. last week. gaetz responds saying, quote, i gave you 250 today and about last week says, quote, you gave me a drive by. now, gaetz denies paying women

whereas on november 13, 2024, representative matt gaetz announced his resignation from congress. whereas there is precedent for the committee on ethics in the united states house of representatives to continue investigating and release reports of its investigation into former members of the house of representatives. whereas in 1988, the committee on ethics of the house of representatives released a report on its investigation into allegations of the misuse of campaign funds, improper gift, the failure to reveal business interests on his financial disclosure and the acceptance of a tbrieb bribe by former representative bill boner following his resignation from congress, whereas in 1990 the committee on ethics of the house of representatives released a report on its investigations of sexual misconduct allegations which included having sexual intercourse with a minor and making sexual advances toward a congressional employee against former representative don lukans, following his resignation from congress. whereas in 2006 the committee on ethics in the house of representatives relea

matt gaetz doesn't have a lot of friends. there is less incentive to protect that nominee than before. >> so you think this is about him an not donald trump? >> everything is about donald trump. >> truer words were never spoke. michael schmidt, thank you for joining me. great to see you. >>> coming up, new reporting from the new york time about pentagon investigations into shadow vice president elon musk. we'll have more on that after the break. stay with us. r the break. stay with us. ♪ ♪ you think we should wait — or... open it! it looks just like him. holiday memories made by alexis brought to you by etsy. we shall overcome. we shall overcome. the struggle for equal rights in the united states has been hard fought, but even today, we're still fighting for racial justice, for voting rights, and against hate and extremism. you can help us win the fight and envision a future where all americans can thrive. by joining the southern poverty law center today. please call now or go online to helpfighthate.org to become a friend of

and matt gaetz, of course, has denied all wrongdoing, jackie, and said he was never charged. oes the house ethical report say to the evidence? >> this is important, yamiche, because gaetz has, over the past several months and years, really, adamantly denied these allegations and actually his denials were so vocal the committee took the rare step of issuing multiple public statements, advising the public of their status updates on their investigation into gaetz and sort of previewing what was to come and, as julie noted, took the extraordinary step of issuing a report after he had already resigned from congress. but i think the most important thing the committee found that gaetz has repeatedly denied is he did have sex with the 17-year-old in july of 2017, that they concluded is in violation of florida's statutory rape law. there's a key graph that i'll read which the committee received evidence gaetz did not learn victim a was 17 years old until more than a month after their first sexual encounter. however, statutory rape is a strict liability crime. after he learned that vict

witness testimony, but they've also documented a lot of the other pieces of these allegations against matt gaetz. they have things like text messages, text messages where gaetz is asking an unnamed woman for what appears to be drugs, calling them cartridges, vitamins, complement of party favors. there's another text messages text message where he says he needs cartridges. and so the the house ethics committee in this report brings together all of these allegations. we have so long been hearing about matt gaetz, saying, we believe that these allegations show that when he was a sitting member of congress, he was engaging in prostitution. he was statutorily raping this 17 year old in the state of florida. and also that he was using illicit drugs. and then they go as far to put the, the, the environment of these parties together. and right. while all the women that the committee interviewed stated that their sexual activity with representative gaetz was consensual, at least one woman felt that the use of drugs at the parties and events they attended may have impaired their ability to really know wha

matt gaetz response on x was very lengthy. elena read part of it. i'm just going to read more because it's something to behold. quote. in my single days, i often sent funds to women i dated, even some i never dated, but who asked? i dated several of these women for years. i never had sexual contact with someone under 18. any claim that i have would be any claim that i have would be destroyed in court. which is why no such claim was ever made in court. this is the piece de resistance. my 30s were an era of working very hard and playing hard too. i'm glad that, like taylor swift, he has different eras. yeah, indeed. it's just pretty extraordinary. given what you read that this was for even just a few days, the nominee for to be attorney general and obviously someone who raised a lot of concern among them, among republicans, his own republicans. alaina mentioned that he might have other political ambitions. and this is why this is so relevant right now is because, you know, it's not just that he would return to congress, but other future ambitions for

if matt gaetz, if donald trump had said, plow through matt gaetz, go for it, i don't think we would betion about just the state of the republican party and this is not, this is not business as usual. this is not where everyone is playing by the same set of rules that we are reading all from the same rulebook. and, um, i think people outside of washington, d.c. look at the matt gaetz debacle and the debacle of the last week and they say, this is why we don't want congress everybody together when it is not congress. it is some specific republicans in congress. >> yeah, you're absolutely right, symone. one of the reasons why we, you know, led the effort to make this public is, i came into congress in 2018, you know, in the part of the wave of women who were disgusted by the access hollywood tape and trump's behavior. we can't allow ourselves to normalize the kind of behavior that donald trump, pete hegseth, matt gaetz, or rfk jr., in some cases, have been convicted of participating in. it does scare me if we get to a point where we say, you know, the announcement that trump is nominated,

aren't you glad you took the reputational huhumiliating hit to vouch for matt gaetz and he dropped out and now we've got the ethics committee accusing him officially of statutory rape and drug use including him allegedly setting up an e-mail address in his congressional office he specifically used to score pot. was that worth it for you? do you want to do it again? don't forget all the congressional republicans who went on the record and voted to make sure that this information would be kept secret so matt gaetz could have a chance of becoming attorney general of the united states without the public ever finding out all the evidence that congress collected about, again, statutory rape, prostitution, drug use, et cetera. that includes the very, very, very pious, bibically guided speaker of the house who went out in public and strenuously argued that the american public should not be allowed to know the evidence that the house had collected about matt gaetz. and the american public should not be allowed to see that evidence so matt gaetz could become attorney general. without anybody kno

an ethics report into matt gaetz — who was briefly donald trump's nominee for attorney general — saysre's "substantial evidence" he paid for sex with a minor and used illicit drugs. us presidentjoe biden commutes the sentences of 37 death row inmates, to life imprisonment without parole. a breakfrom tradition — this year the king's christmas message will be delivered from a former hospital chapel — rather than buckingham palace. and one of india s most respected filmmakers, shaam benegal, has died at the age of 90 a long—awaited report — into the conduct of the former republican congressman matt gaetz — has found "substantial evidence" that he paid women for sex or drugs on numerous occasions — including paying a 17—year—old girl for sex. according to a final draft of the report by the house ethics committee, the politician — who was donald trump's initial pick for attorney general — is said to have been involved in prostitution, statutory rape and illicit drug use. the age of consent in florida — where the majority of the incidents are alleged to have taken place, is 18. mr gaetz den

you got me. [ laughter ] it's matt gaetz. " [ laughter ] and while i'm here, what's your deal, daphne? [ light laughter ] [ audience oohs ] just said, what's your deal?" [ laughter ] even fox news admitted this morning before gaetz withdrew that the nomination was a bad idea. although they also claimed that gaetz was really the only problematic nominee. >> the trump transition team, you look at the big screen, there isn't, you know, there isn't the kind of headlines around any of those that you see around matt gaetz. and the constant drip, drip, drip every day of some new revelation, the trump team's got to be thinking, "you know, maybe this wasn't such a good idea. we don't want to be spinning our wheels. we don't want the distraction. we would like to hit the ground running." >> seth: first of all, donald trump has never hit the ground running in his life. even when he walks, he lumbers around like a zombie - [ laughter ] waiting for his takeout order. "where the hell is brains? [ laughter ] i order brains hour ago." second,

made clear very early on when he was meeting behind closed doors with republican senators, that matt gaetzas not going to have the votes to be confirmed. that's ultimately what led donald trump to calling gaetz up the morning before he withdrew and telling him, look, the math isn't there. the writing is on the wall. it does not appear like you're going to be able to get through. so that's where things stand now. again, matt gaetz remains, though, even though he's no longer donald trump's pick to be his attorney general, he is still very close with donald trump and many in his orbit. and donald trump still believes that he is someone who will continue to be a strong ally for him. unclear whether or not what that will look like moving forward, but they will definitely have a reaction to this. i just think we have to wait and see exactly what comes out in this report. >> yeah, john, a little something under the stocking that i'm not sure that they wanted. alayna treene manu raju. thank you both for being with us this. again, cnn exclusive reporting the house ethics committee has voted to rele

and secret vote, the house ethics committee decides to release its report on former congressman matt gaetz, the original trump pick for u.s. attorney general. what did lawmakers learn after investigating allegations of sexual misconduct allegations? gaetz denies as he furiously decries the fairness of the process and threatens to expose every lawmaker who settled a metoo case. plus retribution. a trump ally in congress now recommends that former congresswoman liz cheney be criminally prosecuted, and president elect trump seems to bless the idea. is this just the beginning of prosecuting people who opposed trump? and with just weeks before a ban on tiktok goes into effect, the u.s. supreme court has agreed to hear a legal challenge. a new york times tiktok reporter is here to break it all down this is cnn breaking news. welcome to the lead. i'm jake tapper. we're actually going to start with breaking news in our money lead right now. the dow the s&p 500 and the nasdaq all finishing the day in the red after the major decision just hours ago announced by the federal reserve to slash interest

with respect to the transition. >> and president trump clearly didn't do a whole lot of vetting of matt gaetz before that nomination to become the attorney general of the united states. and mr. gaetz is floating the idea of actually swearing in to congress on january 3rd. he was reelected. then he dropped out of congress. what do you think? what do you make of that threat? >> i think it's him just trying to shift the news cycle at the end of the day. matt gaetz has become the under underage looker for onlyfans at this point. like a sex, lies and videotape gets a lot of a lot of news coverage. but this guy is basically done politically. i think he's going to sail off into the sunset on on talk about conspiracy theories, live his best life ultra right. but he's done here. >> what he's doing in journalism. >> well, i would say i would agree with you, except for the fact of what paula said before is that he has a very, very good friend and his name is donald trump. and donald trump. maybe he doesn't get a job that requires senate confirmation, but he could get another job that doesn't require tha