Accounts of parties involving drugs, alcohol and young women attended by the president-elect Donald Trump’s choice for attorney general, Matt Gaetzare in the hands of House ethics investigators, under pressure to release their findings on the former Florida congressman.

Evidence related to some of the salacious allegations against Gaetz surfaced in a civil lawsuit filed by a friend of the Florida Republican against another former Gaetz associate, now in prison.

Several witnesses who testified in the civil case — including the woman Gaetz is accused of having sex with while she was a minor in 2017 — testified before the House committee.

The House Ethics Committee’s investigation into Gaetz, initially launched in 2021, has faced several obstacles, including lack of access to records collected by a federal criminal investigation into Gaetz. However, the congressional investigation gained momentum once lawmakers were directed to the civil trial, which has played out in Orlando federal court for the past 18 months. Key evidence remains under seal, but congressional investigators have obtained other non-public evidence in the case, sources told CNN.

What happens to documents collected by the House Ethics Committee, including a draft report that was awaiting release before Gaetz resigned to take the attorney general post, is a major question for lawmakers as the Senate considers whether to confirm the former congressman, one of the most controversial among them. several controversial choices by Trump for his cabinet.

“If the report includes the information the committee received from the (civil) trial, it would be very damaging to the congressman,” a source close to the congressional investigation told CNN.

In addition to the House Ethics Committee investigation, Gaetz was the subject of a separate investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice for alleged sex trafficking, obstruction of justice and other potential crimes, but prosecutors refused to present all costs.

Gaetz has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, including having sex with a minor or paying for sex.

“These allegations are fabricated and would constitute perjury to Congress,” Gaetz said in a statement to CNN. “This false defamation following a three-year criminal investigation should be viewed with great skepticism. »

It is unclear what information discovered by ethics investigators was included in the final report. Notably, Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee, which will consider Gaetz’s nomination, have requested that the ethics committee turn over not only its report, but also the underlying documents. The lawyer for the young woman, formerly a minor, also requested the publication of the report.

However, some witnesses who participated in the DOJ and Hill investigations are not eager to see the report made public, people familiar with their thinking told CNN, because those witnesses hope to move on with their lives.

The House committee on Friday scrapped plans for a closed-door meeting, during which lawmakers were to consider releasing the report.

One friend of Gaetz sues another

Gaetz appeared on the radar of Justice Department criminal investigators as part of a wide-ranging investigation into his former associate, Joel Greenberg, who, after initially facing 33 charges, pleaded guilty in 2021. to six federal chargesincluding sex trafficking of a child.

Greenberg, a former Seminole County tax collector, serves a 11-year prison sentence and cooperated with federal investigators.

Ultimately, the federal case against Gaetz was closed last year after prosecutors recommended that no charges be filed against the congressman. However, the House Ethics Committee’s investigation into Gaetz — who took his hostile relationship with House leadership to the next level by running last year’s vote overthrow of Kevin McCarthy as a speaker – was revived after the DOJ concluded its case.

Meanwhile, Christopher Dorworth, a friend of Gaetz’s, businessman and owner of the Florida home where the alleged 2017 sexual encounter with the underage girl took place, continued Greenberg and members of his family, accusing them of conspiring to make multiple false statements about him because Dorworth refused to help Greenberg obtain a pardon from Trump. Dorworth, a former member of the Florida House, also sued the minor victim.

The litigation resulted in an extensive discovery process, including depositions with key witnesses who also participated in the Justice Department’s investigation but had never spoken publicly. The formerly minor woman and her friend who brought her to the party both testified in the case. Gaetz’s ex-girlfriend provided an affidavit.

The women’s statements remain under seal. But one two day long deposit of Dorworth and other discovery obtained in the civil case are public. In the deposition, attorneys questioning Dorworth recited portions of the deposition transcripts that are under seal and specifically describe the formerly minor woman’s claims. In a series of questions, attorneys recounted how she testified to having sex with Gaetz on an air hockey table at Dorworth’s home while Dorworth watched.

Dorworth vehemently denied this claim in his deposition, testifying that he did not know the woman and saying he was not even home during the gathering in question.

The minor’s friend who brought her to the party said she, too, had sex with Gaetz at the same meeting, according to the description of his testimony in the Dorworth deposition.

Asked about the friend’s claim that she had sex with Gaetz, Dorworth suggested in the deposition that the two women invented their stories.

“What I didn’t really consider when this whole thing started was the idea that people would lie to each other in these stories because of Matt’s political celebrity,” Dorworth said. “I truly believe that’s what happened.”

The friend also testified that at the party, she and the underage female had access to “alcohol, cocaine, ecstasy also known as Molly, and marijuana,” according to parties of his sealed affidavit which were cited in another public document in the case.

Another woman, identified only as “LP” court documentsfiled an affidavit in the case alleging she was present at a party a week later that summer with “alcohol, drugs, middle-aged men and young, attractive women,” and said Gaetz was among the participants.

Dorworth dropped the lawsuit in Septemberbut his deposition and other documents in the case became public as part of a ongoing fight on whether the people he was suing were entitled to attorney’s fees. The Miami Herald is also seeking to unseal more documents relating to this case.

Attorneys also questioned Dorworth about a trip to the Bahamas that Gaetz took with the woman who brought the 17-year-old to the party and the formerly minor woman, who may have been 18 at the time of the trip.

In his deposition, Dorworth said he believed the two women who traveled with Gaetz to the Bahamas were adults at the time of the trip.

Resignation ends investigation into House

The House Ethics Committee investigation was launched by House Democrats in 2021, but was put on hold while the Justice Department completed its criminal investigation.

When the committee finally resumed its investigation, it appeared to have difficulty accessing Justice Department records, people with knowledge of the House investigation told CNN.

A witness who spoke with Hill investigators early last year described them as “overwhelmed” and said they asked questions that appeared to be “based on news reports.”

Then, in mid-2024, the committee turned its attention to the Dorworth civil litigation, which provided a wealth of evidence. Congressional investigators have had access to public and non-public records in the case and have also called witnesses, sources told CNN.

The House committee had planned to meet and release the report last week, but those plans were disrupted by Trump’s announcement that he had chosen Gaetz to be attorney general. With this news, Gaetz almost immediately tendered his resignation – a decision that effectively forced the end of the ethics investigation and jeopardized the release of its report.

CNN’s Casey Gannon and Annie Grayer contributed to this report.

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