close
close

Association-anemone

Bite-sized brilliance in every update

Matt Gaetz, accused of participating in up to 10 drug-fueled orgies
asane

Matt Gaetz, accused of participating in up to 10 drug-fueled orgies

A lawyer representing two women who claim they attended up to 10 “sex parties”. Matt Gaetz will launch in a media blitz on Monday, revealing new details about wrongdoing against the former Florida congressman and future attorney general.

Talking to Politicalattorney Joel Sheppard said his clients have already told the House Ethics Committee that they attended five to 10 “sex parties” with Gaetz between mid-2017 and late 2018, when he was serving his first term in Congress.

They further described the gatherings as “group sex situations” where illegal drugs were consumed and where one of the women claims she saw Gaetz having sex with an underage friend at a gaming table.

Gaetz, for his part, has strongly denied any allegations of wrongdoing. A spokesperson for the former Florida representative told Politico, “Merrick Garland’s DoJ cleared Matt Gaetz and did not indict him. Are you claiming Garland is part of a cover up?

The Department of Justice the Gaetz investigation centered on allegations, first made in 2020, that Gaetz engaged in child sex trafficking and statutory rape by paying a 17-year-old girl to travel across the country to have sex with her .

While prosecutors ultimately declined to pursue charges against the former Florida congressman, the claims prompted an investigation by the House Ethics Committee into similar allegations of sexual abuse of minors as well as drug use, illicit financial practices and, most notoriously, sharing sexually explicit images on the House floor.

Sheppard said Monday he hoped his future media appearances would put “a lot of pressure on (the committee) to release the report,” with the body’s long-running investigation now closed after Gaetz’s resignation from Congress last week after news broke of his nomination to be president-elect Donald Trumphis attorney general.

“My clients have already been through this multiple times and they really don’t want to testify again,” Sheppard said. “Especially not on the floor Senate,” he added, referring to the upcoming vetting process Gaetz may go through before being confirmed as the nation’s top prosecutor.

The former Florida representative’s sudden withdrawal from the House, just two days before the panel was to release its findings, caused something of a firestorm within the GOP.

House Speaker Mike Johnson said he intended to “strongly request” that the report be kept secret, saying its release was “not the way we do things in the House.” Sen. Markwayne Mullins (R-OK) has said The Senate should “absolutely” have access to the committee’s findings and that if they are released to the public they should also “be part of the negotiations.”

Gaetz is not the only recent nominee in Trump’s new cabinet to face allegations of sexual misconduct, with Fox News principal and secretary of defense nominee Pete Hegseth accused of paying a woman who claimed he sexually assaulted her in October 2017 – allegations Hegseth has strongly denied.