Gaetz Says He’ll No Longer Voluntarily Cooperate With ‘Uncomfortably Nosey’ Ethics Panel

Last updated: 2024/09/27 at 12:57 AM

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) is DONE answering the House Ethics Committee’s questions about his alleged sex life and his alleged drug use, at least voluntarily.

In a letter that the congressman posted on Twitter, Gaetz accused the panel of engaging in a “political payback exercise” (perhaps residual Kevin McCarthy paranoia) and being “uncomfortably nosey,” as he voluntarily responded to the committees’ questions about … his drug use and his sex life.

“I am being investigated and judged by my political opponents. This is Soviet,” he declared.

Gaetz said the Ethics panel had asked him earlier this month whether he had “engaged in sexual activity with any individual under 18.”

“The answer to this question is unequivocally NO,” he wrote.

His response to the panel’s questions about whether he has “illegally taken drugs” was less succinct.

“I have not used drugs which are illegal, absent some law allowing use in a jurisdiction of the United States,” he wrote. “I have not used ‘illicit’ drugs, which I consider to be drugs unlawful for medical or over-the-counter use everywhere in the United States.”

My final response to the Ethics Committee: pic.twitter.com/iCBR3fyB6D
— Rep. Matt Gaetz (@RepMattGaetz) September 26, 2024

Gaetz spent the rest of the letter doubling down on his previous claims that his former associate Joel Greenberg — who is serving time in prison after pleading guilty to underage sex trafficking, among other crimes — plans to lie about Gaetz to reduce his sentence. Specially, Gaetz claimed Greenberg has worked with a “jailhouse informant” to supposedly lie about the congressman having sexual contact with underage girls.

He then made it public that he’s heard the Ethics Committee had issued but not yet served a subpoena for his testimony.

Gaetz’s letter came in response to an inquiry the panel sent the mega-Trump ally on Sept. 4 as the committee investigates a number of allegations against him. When it first announced it was reviewing Gaetz’s conduct, the panel said it was looking into whether he had “engaged in sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, accepted improper gifts, dispensed special privileges and favors to individuals with whom he had a personal relationship, and sought to obstruct government investigations of his conduct.”

Back in June, the Ethics Committee announced that it was no longer looking at “the allegations that he may have shared inappropriate images or videos on the House floor, misused state identification records, converted campaign funds to personal use, and/or accepted a bribe or improper gratuity.” Meaning: it is believed that the panel is currently focused on alleged sexual misconduct and drug use.

The Ethics panel’s probe also has roots in the undying drama between Gaetz and the former house speaker he got booted from the speakership. McCarthy has said publicly, repeatedly that he believes Gaetz’s filing of the motion to vacate was, in part, payback for McCarthy not shutting down the Ethics probe as speaker.