President-elect Donald Trump came to the defense of former Rep. Matt Gaetz, calling his treatment “very unfair” after a House Ethics Committee report revealing misconduct was released.
Mr. Gaetz, Florida Republican, posted a picture of the message from Mr. Trump on X late Monday.
“Matt very unfair!” wrote Mr. Trump on an article by The Federalist, a conservative outlet.
“I got a great note from President Trump!” the X post caption said.
This comes on the heels of the highly anticipated release of the House report.
“The committee concluded there was substantial evidence that Representative Gaetz violated House Rules, state and federal laws, and other standards of conduct prohibiting prostitution, statutory rape, illicit drug use, acceptance of impermissible gifts, the provision of special favors and privileges, and obstruction of Congress,” the 42-page report said.
The committee’s report said Mr. Gaetz “engaged in sexual activity with a 17-year-old girl,” paid women for sex, used illegal drugs on “multiple occasions,” accepted gifts in the form of a flight to the Bahamas in 2018, had his chief of staff lie to the State Department that a woman with whom he was having sex was a constituent needing a passport, and obstructed the panel’s investigation.
However, the committee said there was not enough evidence to get him on sex trafficking charges, which was the focal point of the Justice Department’s investigation into Mr. Gaetz.
He has continuously denied wrongdoing and tried defending himself on social media Monday.
“Giving funds to someone you are dating — that they didn’t ask for — and that isn’t ‘charged’ for sex is now prostitution?!?” he said in a post on X. “There is 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.”
This was all brought up more intensely after Mr. Trump nominated Mr. Gaetz to be attorney general. He abruptly resigned from Congress after being nominated for the position. He wound up withdrawing his name from consideration a week later.
