Former Florida GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz was ripped by social media customers over the weekend for claiming that allegations he had intercourse with a 17-year-old lady have been “debunked,” with many citing a Home Ethics Committee report that discovered “substantial proof” of the tryst.
Gaetz, now a bunch at One America Information Community, had been in an X spat with Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) on Friday and Saturday over the Republican Celebration’s help of Israel, which devolved into accusations involving the ethics scandal.
“In case your ‘conservatism’ flirts with antisemitism, it’s not conservatism. We’re defenders of fact, not blind tribalism. You may’t save Western Civilization whereas echoing its oldest hatreds,” Crenshaw wrote in a publish.
Crenshaw’s message got here after the Heritage Basis, the most important conservative assume tank in Washington, DC, was roiled by the choice of its president, Kevin Roberts, to defend Tucker Carlson after he hosted the white nationalist Nick Fuentes on his podcast, which reaches hundreds of thousands of viewers and listeners.
Gaetz fired again at Crenshaw on X: “In case your ‘conservatism’ flirts with interventionism, it’s not conservatism. We’re defenders of America, not globalism. You may’t save Western Civilization whereas echoing the lies of [Benjamin] Netanyahu.”
“In case your ‘conservatism ‘flirts with underage women it’s not conservatism,” Crenshaw responded, referencing allegations that dogged Gaetz earlier than he resigned from Congress in November 2024.
“Rep Crenshaw — unable to defend his coverage views — resorts to a debunked smear,” Gaetz returned hearth, earlier than implying that the Texan was a paid shill for pro-Israel pursuits: “Get that $7k bro…”
An X Neighborhood Word later appended to Gaetz’s tweet learn: “Claims aren’t debunked. A bipartisan Home Ethics Committee discovered ‘substantial proof’ that Gaetz paid for intercourse and that he had intercourse with a 17-year-old in 2017. The committee misplaced jurisdiction to sanction Gaetz after he left the Home, however printed its findings anyway.”
The Ethics panel discovered “substantial proof” that Gaetz “repeatedly paid girls for partaking in sexual exercise with him” between 2017 and 2020, together with a 17-year-old lady; “used or possessed unlawful
medicine, together with cocaine and ecstasy”; and “knowingly and willfully sought to impede and hinder the Committee’s investigation of his conduct.”
In a uncommon step, Ethics lawmakers voted to launch the report the month after Gaetz left the Home. The previous lawmaker had filed a lawsuit towards the committee in a bid for it to not publish the findings..
Gaetz stated the committee launched the report “after explicitly acknowledging it lacks jurisdiction over former members, its failure to comply with constitutional notions of due course of, and failure to stick to its personal procedural guidelines and precedent represents an unprecedented overreach that threatens basic constitutional rights and established procedural protections.”
Within the 40-page swimsuit, Gaetz famous there can be “rapid, extreme and irreversible” harm to his popularity consequently.
