‘I Have Not Used Drugs Which are Illegal’: Gaetz Attacks GOP-Led Committee In Blistering Letter Accusing Colleagues of ‘Seeking Revenge’

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) published an eyebrow-raising letter to the GOP-led House Ethics Committee on Thursday and accused the members of “a political payback exercise” as they continue to investigate allegations of drug use and sexual misconduct by the Florida Republican.

Gaetz addressed the letter, which he shared on X, to Chairman Michael Guest (R-MS) and Ranking Member Susan Wild (R-PA).

“Your investigation into me has devolved into a political payback exercise, devoid of adequate due with leaks, and now seeking deeply personal information that is no business of Congress,” he wrote, adding:

It seems the fix is in. The Committee has refused to establish an Investigative Subcommittee, as is customary, perhaps because doing so would have time-limited this investigation long ago, and diluted the influence of those on the full committee who are seeking revenge. The Committee has, during the course of its work, released public statements to cast me in a negative light.

This was understandably observed as “unusual.” Most shockingly, the Committee’s own membership has participated in funding a recent political campaign against me which utilized the very smears that the Committee now seeks to revive and phony-validate in this investigation. I am being investigated and judged by my political opponents. This is Soviet. This investigation exists to do the voters of my district who won’t remove me from office. The Committee’s own membership tried to remove me from office via election. That failed, so this is the next iteration of the smear.

Gaetz sparked controversy and scorn within the House GOP by leading the ouster of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) last year. McCarthy has since blamed Gaetz’s move on the Ethics Committee investigation, the former speaker said in April, “I’ll give you the truth why I’m not speaker: because one person, a member of Congress, wanted me to stop an ethics complaint because he slept with a 17-year-old girl.”

Gaetz’s letter added, “Your correspondence of September 4 asks whether I have engaged in sexual activity with any individual under 18. The answer to this question is unequivocally NO. You can apply this response to every version of this question, in every forum.” He went on to deny taking “illicit” drugs as well:

You ask whether I have illegally taken drugs. I have not used drugs which are illegal, absent some law allowing use in a jurisdiction of the United States. I have not used “illicit” drugs, which I consider to be drugs unlawful for medical or over-the-counter use everywhere in the United States.

The letter on for another page and accused the Biden Justice Department, which closed its investigation into Gaetz, of “leaking” damaging information about him. He goes on to write, “Your September 4 correspondence to me reveals your investigation is about more than enforcing House Rules – and is uncomfortably nosey.”

“You ask, in part, whether I’ve had sex with a list of adult women over the past seven years. The lawful, consensual, sexual activities of adults are not the business of Congress. Neither is a detailing of medications I have taken under the color of law,” Gaetz added, before concluding:

This question about my sexual history reveals a sinister motive of the Committee to harm me and those who have had any association with me. To date, I have voluntarily produced tens of thousands of records and answered many of your relevant questions over several months. But asking about my sexual history as a single man with adult women is a bridge too far. I will no longer voluntarily participate in this regrettable abuse of the Committee.

I understand that the Committee has issued, but not served, a subpoena for my testimony. I explicitly reserve all of my rights pursuant to House Rules and the U.S. Constitution.

Read the full letter here.

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