Rep. Matt Gaetz claims Congress’ investigation into his past sexual encounters and alleged drug use is too “intrusive and manipulated,” calling it an “exercise in political vendetta.”
The married Florida Republican, 42, has been the subject of a lengthy investigation by the House Ethics Committee over multiple allegations.
Addressing some of those allegations head-on, the lawmaker posted a letter to his social media account Thursday to set the record straight and put an end to speculation about an alleged sexual encounter he had with a minor, past drug use and more. .
“Your September 4 correspondence asks me if I have engaged in sexual activity with any individual under the age of 18,” Gaetz writes to top lawmakers on the House Ethics Committee.
“The answer to this question is a resounding NO,” he wrote. “Legal, consensual adult sexual activities are not the business of Congress.”
Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., wrote in a memo Thursday that he did not have any sexual encounters with minors. He also denied using illicit drugs. He is currently being investigated by the House Ethics Committee.
Gaetz chastises the ethics panel for aggressively pursuing him even though he provided irrefutable evidence that he committed no crime months ago.
“I provided the Committee with conclusive evidence of my innocence by presenting contemporary ‘smoking gun’ jailhouse writings documenting the plot to frame me,” he wrote.
That evidence, according to Gaetz, included documents showing that a key witness who accused him of drug use and sexual encounter lied to reduce his own prison sentence.
The congressman compared the evidence to a smear campaign against him.
—You’re asking me, in part, if I’ve had sexual relations with a list of adult women over the past seven years. “Legal, consensual adult sexual activities are not the business of Congress,” Gaetz wrote.
“This question about my sexual history reveals a sinister motive for the Committee to harm me and those who have had any association with me.”
Gaetz walks with his fiancée Ginger Luckey before speaking to a crowd in 2021. The two are now married.
Gaetz and his wife married in 2021, supposedly after his alleged encounter with a minor
“Asking about my sexual history as a single man with adult women is going too far.”
He also talked about his drug use, or lack thereof.
The memo continues: ‘You ask me if I have used drugs illegally. I have not used drugs that are illegal, absent any law permitting their use in a United States jurisdiction.
“Their investigation into me has become an exercise in political vendetta, lacking proper due process, riddled with leaks, and now seeking deeply personal information that is none of Congress’s business.”
The Republican also noted that he was aware of a pending subpoena against him to force him to testify under oath.
Gaetz said that although he has not received legal notice, he “will no longer voluntarily participate in this regrettable abuse of the Committee.”
Gaetz informed the Ethics Committee that he will no longer voluntarily cooperate with the investigation into him.
The Justice Department previously investigated the congressman for allegations of sex with a minor and child sex trafficking, but did not file charges.
“I am being investigated and tried by my political opponents,” Gaetz wrote. ‘
This is Soviet. This investigation exists to do what the voters of my district will not do: remove me from office.’
Although if the subpoena is real, as the Republican claims, it could be an indication that the Ethics Committee’s investigation is coming to an end.