Breaking: Matt Gaetz Paid Women $10,000 for Sex, Per House Ethics Committee
Another revelation in Matt Gaetz’s scandal-ridden nomination shows just how unfit he is for public office

The situation isn’t looking all that good for Matt Gaetz. While he has previously has faced questions about alleged sexual misconduct, new evidence has emerged from the House Ethics Committee showing that former Congressman Matt Gaetz paid two women an estimated $10,000 for sex.1 2The revelations, while damning, may not sink Gaetz’s nomination for Attorney General, but serve as another example of his deep moral failings and his unfitness for public office.
Reviewing the Allegations
While much of the allegations against Gaetz remain unchanged, including the accusation that he had sex with a minor, she was 17 at the time, there are some key components that have changed the situation significantly. As I noted in my piece on Monday, the allegations against Gaetz are serious and could undermine him, not just politically but legally.
As I explained:
If Gaetz was involved with a minor, then he would be exposed to federal sex trafficking laws and would likely be expelled from the House and could even face criminal charges. However, with the resignation by Gaetz, the House is now struggling to determine whether or not they will release the report as originally planned.
This is especially pertinent now as The Washington Post reports that a woman testified to the House Ethics Committee that Gaetz paid her for sex and that she personally witnessed Gaetz having sex with her friend, who was 17 at the time. In addition, a second woman has come forward, also represented by the same lawyer, and testified that Gaetz had paid her for sex at drug-fueled parties. All of this is to say that Trump’s decision to nominate Gaetz before he has ascended to office shows he either doesn’t mind the controversy or expects it to pass without much concern.3
When I first wrote that, the only evidence that Gaetz was paying women for sex was the testimony of one, unidentified women. And while she was under oath, The Washington Post reports that new evidence in the form of financial records from Gaetz’s Venmo and Pay Pal have been uncovered by the House Ethics Committee. 4
As The Post explains:
House Ethics Committee investigators probing sexual misconduct allegations against former congressman Matt Gaetz obtained records showing that he paid more than $10,000 to two women who testified before the committee, according to a person familiar with the investigation who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive material.
The records that were exhibited during closed-door testimony displayed 27 PayPal and Venmo payments disbursed between July 2017 and January 2019, totaling over $10,000 paid to the two witnesses, that person said. Some payments were for sex, the witnesses testified to the committee. ABC News first reported on the exhibits.
With these records now confirmed to be in the House’s possession, the difficulty of getting Matt Gaetz through the confirmation process grows. More importantly, the moral fabric and character of Matt Gaetz’s relationship with women becomes painfully clear. That is to say that Gaetz has no moral fabric whatsoever and is utterly unfit to clean a public restroom, much less serve as the nation’s chief law enforcement officer.
Further adding to this furious wave of new information is the New York Times’ recent publication of a graphic from the Department of Justice’s investigation into Gaetz’s conduct. The graphic shows many of the women that Gaetz is alleged to have paid in an almost comically extensive network of people.5

The publication of such an expansive network of dozens of women and multiple payments will almost certainly interest the Senators, Democrat and Republican, who will be tasked with confirming Gaetz should his appointment stand come January. However, with the current cowardice of the House GOP, I am skeptical.
House Republicans’ Moral Failure
As it stands right now, it appears unlikely that the source of moral judgment will come from the Republicans in the House. Yesterday, Talking Points Memo reported that the House GOP couldn’t come to an agreement on whether or not to release the Ethics Committee’s report on Matt Gaetz’s conduct. 6
Instead, the committee, which is occupied by five Democrats and Five Republicans, failed to avoid an even split on the report. While Democrats are almost certainly in favor of the report, as such a report will likely embarrass the upcoming Republican administration, it is increasingly clear that none of the five Republicans on the committee were willing to cross the aisle to vote for the report’s release. Representative Susan Wild (D-PA) confirmed that, saying “in order to affirmatively move something forward, somebody has to cross party lines and vote with the other side.” 7
By holding to the party line, Republicans on the committee are not only betraying the public by allowing a technicality to protect an alleged sexual predator, but they are also setting themselves up for an embarrassing confirmation hearing for their party. Which is worse for them remains unclear.
Senate Democrats have already come out in favor of the report’s release, going so far as to request the evidentiary file that the FBI has on Gaetz from its prior investigation. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) requested the documents in a letter to the FBI, urging that:
“The grave public allegations against Mr. Gaetz speak directly to his fitness to serve as the chief law enforcement officer for the federal government…. The unanswered questions regarding Mr. Gaetz’s alleged conduct are particularly significant given that his associate, Joel Greenberg, pleaded guilty to the sex trafficking charge for which Mr. Gaetz was also investigated.”8
While it isn’t clear how the FBI will react to this request and whether Republicans will throw Gaetz under the bus, the serious risk to the former Congressman’s nomination is growing. When asked by Politico, Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) argued that “The Senate deserves to have it, so they can make a good decision.”9 Still, as some Republicans are talking about releasing the report, others are calling for retribution via the release of other ethics investigations into Democrats, both current and former.
Whatever the case may be, it remains increasingly clear that Gaetz’s chances of getting confirmed are growing weaker and weaker. If Gaetz fails to get his desired position, the only person he will have to blame is himself.
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Originally published at https://theprogressiveamerican.com on November 21, 2024.
Conor Kelly, “Protecting a Predator: Trump Backs Matt Gaetz,” The Progressive American (blog), November 19, 2024, https://theprogressiveamerican.com/2024/11/18/protecting-a-predator-trump-backs-matt-gaetz/..
↩︎Jacqueline Alemany et al., “House Panel Was Told Gaetz Paid Two Women $10,000, in Part for Sex,” Washington Post, November 20, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/11/20/gaetz-investigation-house-ethics-committee-vance/.
↩︎Kelly, Conor. “Protecting a Predator: Trump Backs Matt Gaetz.” The Progressive American (blog), November 18th, 2024
↩︎Alemany, Jacqueline, et al., “House Panel Was Told Gaetz Paid Two Women $10,000, in Part for Sex.” Washington Post, November 20, 2024. ↩︎
Michael S. Schmidt, “Federal Inquiry Traced Matt Gaetz’s Venmo Payments to Women,” The New York Times, November 20, 2024, sec. U.S., https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/20/us/politics/matt-gaetz-venmo-payments-sex.html.
↩︎Kate Riga and Emine Yücel, “House Ethics Republicans Vote To Bury Gaetz Report As Senate Gears Up For ‘Kavanaugh On Steroids,’” TPM – Talking Points Memo (blog), November 20, 2024, https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/house-ethics-members-dither-on-gaetz-report-as-senate-gears-up-for-kavanaugh-on-steroids. ↩︎
Kate Riga and Emine Yücel, “House Ethics Republicans Vote To Bury Gaetz Report As Senate Gears Up For ‘Kavanaugh On Steroids,’” TPM – Talking Points Memo (blog), November 20, 2024, ↩︎
Liz Goodwin et al., “Senate Democrats Request Matt Gaetz Case Files from the FBI,” Washington Post, November 20, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/11/20/gaetz-fbi-investigation-senate-democrats/. ↩︎
Olivia Beavers et al., “‘Black Mark’: Lawmakers Seethe over Ethics’ Gaetz Report Imbroglio,” POLITICO, November 20, 2024, https://www.politico.com/news/2024/11/20/house-ethics-punt-gaetz-report-chaos-00190801. ↩︎