As 2023 got underway, Rep. Matt Gaetz received some good news from the Justice Department: Federal investigators had been scrutinizing the Florida Republican as part of a sex trafficking investigation, but prosecutors announced they would not bring criminal charges against the congressman.
Gaetz, however, still had to contend with an investigation from the House Ethics Committee.
The panel first launched a probe into the GOP lawmaker more than three years ago, though it was just three months ago when members of the committee issued a rare statement explaining that their original investigation into Gaetz was expanding.
NBC News reported in June that the bipartisan panel said in a lengthy statement that it was examining whether Gaetz may have “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.”
There’s fresh reason to believe the process is still intensifying. CNBC reported:
Rep. Matt Gaetz said Thursday that he has learned the House Ethics Committee will subpoena him as it investigates whether the Florida Republican engaged in sexual misconduct with a minor or illicit drug use. Gaetz, a close ally of former President Donald Trump, made the statement in an angry letter to the Ethics Committee that declared he will “no longer voluntarily participate” in the panel’s probe.
The congressman, who has long denied any wrongdoing, also said in his written statement that he believes an Ethics Committee subpoena has been “issued, but not served.” Gaetz did not offer an indication as to whether he would comply with the subpoena or not.
He went on to write that the committee asked him earlier this month whether he has “engaged in sexual activity with any individual under 18.” The answer, according to Gaetz, was “unequivocally NO.”
The Florida Republican — again, according to his own version of events — also said that he was asked about illegal drug use. On this, Gaetz’s answer was more nuanced.
“I have not used drugs which are illegal, absent some law allowing use in a jurisdiction of the United States,” he wrote, adding, “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.”
Just as notably, Gaetz concluded that the House Ethics Committee’s lines of inquiry had become “nosy,” and he would no longer cooperate with the ongoing investigation.
It’s difficult to speculate as to what, if anything, the panel will ultimately conclude, or when it might announce its findings. That said, for Gaetz’s critics on Capitol Hill — of which there are many — the Ethics Committee’s examination is of great interest. It was a year ago this week when Fox News raised a few eyebrows with a report that said House GOP members were “preparing a motion to expel” Gaetz. The report didn’t include any on-the-record comments, and it wasn’t independently verified by other news organizations, but it raised the prospect of a provocative move against a member with a limited number of friends, even on his side of the aisle. Two months later, USA Today published a related report, adding that Gaetz “continues to draw the ire of his Republican colleagues … and some of his detractors have privately floated expelling him from Congress.” In other words, as the Ethics Committee’s work continues, the stakes are high. Watch this space. This post updates our related earlier coverage.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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