The lawyer for two of the women who testified in the House Ethics Committee’s probe of former Rep. Matt Gaetz said in a statement that the committee’s report vindicates their testimony.
“The House Ethics Committee’s thorough investigation and detailed findings vindicate my clients’ accounts and demonstrate their credibility. We appreciate the Committee’s commitment to transparency in releasing this comprehensive report so the truth can be known,” lawyer Joel Leppard said in a statement.
The House Ethics Committee report, released publicly on Monday, found 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.”
Gaetz has said the committee’s allegations are false. He filed an unsuccessful lawsuit earlier Monday morning to try to stop the release of the report, writing that he denied the committee’s allegations in writing earlier this year and was given no opportunity to “respond to any report or investigative conclusions.”
Leppard told CNN last month that he represented two women who testified to the House Ethics Committee that they were paid for “sexual favors” by Gaetz.
Additionally, one of the women testified to the congressional panel that she witnessed Gaetz having sex with her then-underage friend in 2017, Leppard said. Gaetz has denied having sex with an underage girl
