Matt Gaetz ethics report finds ‘substantial evidence’ he violated statutory rape law: Live updates
Gaetz stands accused of buying and using illegal drugs, including from his office on Capitol Hill, according to the report
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Your support makes all the difference.The House Ethics Committee report into former Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida has been released, with the panel having “determined there is substantial evidence” that the former congressman and attorney general nominee violated a statutory rape law.
“The Committee determined there is substantial evidence that Representative Gaetz violated House Rules and other standards of conduct prohibiting prostitution, statutory rape, illicit drug use, impermissible gifts, special favors or privileges, and obstruction of Congress,” the report states.
Before its release, Gaetz sued the committee to block the release of the report that found that he paid thousands of dollars to more than a dozen women — including a 17-year-old girl — for sex.
In a federal lawsuit filed in Washington, D.C., the Republican accused the committee of making an “unconstitutional” attempt to “exercise jurisdiction over a private citizen” by releasing a report “containing potentially defamatory allegations.”
He asked for a judge to issue an emergency order to block the report’s release, but drafts had already been published in several news outlets Monday morning.
Publishing the report would mark an “unprecedented overreach that threatens fundamental constitutional rights and established procedural protections,” attorneys for the former congressman wrote.
Biden cheered by Democrats and civil rights groups for commuting dozens of death row sentences
Civil rights groups who were anxiously preparing for the onset of Donald Trump’s presidency breathed a sigh of relief on Monday as President Joe Biden announced the largest single-day commutation of federal death row inmates in modern history.
The White House announced early Monday morning that the president would commute the sentences of 37 inmates awaiting execution in the federal prison system. Now, just three people will remain on death row following the commutations: mass murderers Dylann Roof, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, and Robert Bowers.
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Biden cheered by civil rights groups for commuting dozens of death row sentences
Biden’s announcement leaves Democrats breathing easier after Hunter, ‘Kids for Cash’ clemency news
Trump declares Elon Musk is ‘not going to be president’ amid ongoing taunts over who’s really in charge
While Donald Trump still thinks his “first buddy” Elon Musk is a “great guy,” he wants to make it clear that only one man is calling the shots.
“No, he’s not taking the presidency,” Trump declared in a Sunday night speech. “That’s not happening.”
The president-elect’s snarky remark comes as Democrats have sought to drive a wedge between the world’s richest man and the notoriously thin-skinned Trump by highlighting Musk’s growing influence and describing him as the “real president.” The taunts have only grown following last week’s chaos on Capitol Hill after Musk raged against House Republicans’ original spending bill, prompting lawmakers to race against the clock to strike another deal to prevent the government from shutting down.
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Trump declares Elon Musk is ‘not going to be president’ amid ongoing taunts
‘No, he’s not taking the presidency,’ Donald Trump exclaimed Sunday night. ‘That’s not happening.’
Gaetz lawsuit assigned to judge who has handled Jan 6 cases
Before its release, Gaetz sued the committee to block the release of the report that found that he paid thousands of dollars to more than a dozen women — including a 17-year-old girl — for sex.
In a federal lawsuit filed in Washington, D.C., the Republican accused the committee of making an “unconstitutional” attempt to “exercise jurisdiction over a private citizen” by releasing a report “containing potentially defamatory allegations.”
He asked for a judge to issue an emergency order to block the report’s release, but drafts had already been published in several news outlets Monday morning.
Publishing the report would mark an “unprecedented overreach that threatens fundamental constitutional rights and established procedural protections,” attorneys for the former congressman wrote.
Gaetz’s lawsuit has been assigned to Amit Mehta, who has presided over several high-profile trials and cases involving January 6 defendants, including members of the Oath Keepers and its founder Stewart Rhodes.
Chair of Ethics Committee did not vote to release report
The chair of the Ethics Committee, Republican Rep. Michael Guest said that while he does “not challenge the Committee’s findings,” he did not vote to release the report.
I believe, have publicly stated, and remain steadfast in the position that the House Committee on Ethics lost jurisdiction to release to the public any substantive work product regarding Mr. Gaetz after his resignation from the House on November 14, 2024.
While I do not challenge the Committee’s findings, I did not vote to support the release of the report and I take great exception that the majority deviated from the Committee’s well-established standards and voted to release a report on an individual no longer under the Committee’s jurisdiction, an action the Committee has not taken since 2006.
Representative Gaetz resigned from Congress, withdrew from consideration to serve in the next administration, and declared that he would not seek to be seated in the 119th Congress. The decision to publish a report after his resignation breaks from the Committee’s long-standing practice and is a dangerous departure with potentially catastrophic consequences.
Biden commutes most federal death row sentences. Here’s the full list
Thirty-seven people on death row had their sentences commutated by President Joe Biden on Monday morning and will now serve life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, rather than face execution.
Maintaining the tradition of offering clemency in the last few weeks of a presidency, Biden exercised his power to remove most inmates from federal death row. Only three people will remain.
It comes a little less than a month before President-elect Donald Trump takes office. Unlike Biden, Trump supports the death penalty and has suggested more people should be given death sentences – though he has not offered specifics on that. Trump restarted federal executions after a 17-year pause during his first term, with 13 being carried out.
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Biden commutes most federal death row sentences. Here’s the full list
Three people who committed hate-motivated mass killings or terrorism were exempt from commutation
‘Committee considered whether to establish an investigative subcommittee to consider sanctions'
The House Ethics Committee said in a statement that “While the Committee considered whether to establish an investigative subcommittee to consider sanctions against Matt Gaetz, the Committee ultimately determined that it would not risk the further victimization of the women involved in this matter.”
“Most of the women with whom the Committee spoke also gave statements to DOJ and urged the Committee to rely on those statements in lieu of requiring them to relive their experience,” the panel added.
Greenland prime minister balks at Trump’s renewed play for territory: ‘We are not for sale’
The leader of Greenland has flat-out rejected President-elect Donald Trump’s renewed interest in purchasing the massive Arctic island from Denmark, insisting that the territory is not on the market.
“Greenland is ours,” Greenland Prime Minister Múte Egede said in a statement on Monday. “We are not for sale and will never be for sale. We must not lose our long struggle for freedom.”
Egede’s comment comes after the incoming president announced that he wanted to revisit the idea of buying the semi-autonomous land from Denmark. During his first term in the White House, Trump expressed a desire to make a “large real estate deal” because “strategically” it would be “very nice.”
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Greenland leader balks at Trump’s renewed play for territory: ‘We are not for sale’
The leader of Greenland has flat-out rejected President-elect Donald Trump’s renewed interest in purchasing the massive Arctic island from Denmark, insisting that the territory is not on the market.
Report: Gaetz set up set up email in Capitol to buy marijuana
The House Ethics Committee report into Matt Gaetz states that there’s “ample evidence that Representative Gaetz purchased and used marijuana; he appears to have set up a pseudonymous e-mail account from his House office in the Capitol complex for the purpose of purchasing marijuana.”
Lord Mandelson ‘open to working with Farage to win over Trump’
Lord Mandelson is reportedly set to call on Nigel Farage to help him win over Donald Trump in his new role as UK ambassador to the US.
He is said to be ready to work with the Reform UK leader, as part of an attempt to persuade the president-elect not to target Britain with tariffs.
Experts have warned of a looming trade war after Mr Trump himself said: “Tariff is my favourite word”, and promised to implement 10 to 20 per cent tariffs on all goods coming into the country – a figure that rises to 60 per cent for those from China.
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Lord Mandelson ‘open to working with Farage to win over Trump’
Mr Farage, who has been a close ally of Donald Trump since his 2016 election campaign, has offered up his services to Lord Mandelson to act as a link to the president-elect
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