Matt Gaetz files unsuccessful last-ditch lawsuit to stop release of House Ethics report

By Hannah Rabinowitz, Sarah Ferris and Marshall Cohen, CNN

Washington (CNN) — Former Rep. Matt Gaetz filed a lawsuit Monday asking a federal judge to block the official release of a long-awaited House Ethics Committee report about his potential misconduct while in office.

Gaetz filed the lawsuit around the same time that CNN and other outlets reported on a draft of the report’s findings about his alleged sexual misconduct and drug use. Within hours of the lawsuit being filed Monday morning, the committee officially released the report on its website, making his lawsuit essentially moot.

In a court filing Monday afternoon, Gaetz said the committee’s “unprecedented and procedurally defective decision” to publish the report meant that his lawsuit “has been mooted.”

In the lawsuit, which was filed in Washington, DC, against the Republican-led committee and its chairman, Gaetz claimed releasing the report would cause “immediate, severe and irreversible” damage to his reputation, in part because “media coverage would be immediate and widespread.” He also claimed he wasn’t notified of the panel’s plans to release the report – as required by House rules – nor was he provided copies of the materials.

“As such, Plaintiff has been afforded no opportunity to respond to any report or investigative conclusions,” the lawsuit says.

Gaetz lawyers said he has “frequently and vehemently declared his innocence regarding the alleged misconduct” and had asked the committee to “cease their investigation and provide him appropriate due process rights.” He said the Republican-run panel has been “unresponsive” to those demands.

Ahead of Gaetz’s afternoon filing, the federal judge assigned to the case, Amit Mehta, ordered Gaetz to explain by 5 p.m. ET why the case shouldn’t be dismissed because it “appears to be moot” in light of the committee officially releasing the report.

CNN has reached out to Gaetz’s attorneys about the report. The House Ethics Committee declined to comment on the lawsuit.

In a post on X after filing the lawsuit, Gaetz said, “they did this to me in a Christmas Eve-Eve report and not in a courtroom of any kind where I could present evidence and challenge witnesses.” He further said “giving funds to someone you are dating” is not prostitution, citing testimony from a woman who said she didn’t charge him for sex.

The lawsuit alleges that the committee’s own rules state it does not have power to publicly release a report about a private citizen.

“The Committee’s apparent intention to release its report after explicitly acknowledging it lacks jurisdiction over former members, its failure to follow constitutional notions of due process, and failure to adhere to its own procedural rules and precedent represents an unprecedented overreach that threatens fundamental constitutional rights and established procedural protections,” the lawsuit states.

The House Ethics Committee voted to release the report last week – a rare step as Gaetz is no longer in Congress.

The committee found that Gaetz paid tens of thousands of dollars to women for sex or drugs on at least 20 occasions, including paying a 17-year-old girl for sex in 2017, and said that Gaetz may have broken state laws prohibiting prostitution, statutory rape, illicit drug use, impermissible gifts, special favors or privileges, and obstruction of Congress.

He added that he was never officially notified of the committee’s intent to publicly release the report nor was never provided a copy, therefore he was never “afforded the opportunity to respond” to its conclusions.

The lawsuit also points out that the Justice Department investigated Gaetz for similar reasons and declined to charge him – a defense the former congressman has repeatedly relied on.

The report, however, only alleges Gaetz may have broken state laws.

Gaetz also denies using campaign funds for personal expenses, saying in his lawsuit that the Federal Election Commission investigated the allegations and found “no reason to believe” that they were true. In addition, he states that the allegation that he “may have engaged in illicit drug use” is false, as is the assertion that he obtained fake IDs.

This story has been updated with additional details.

CNN’s Tierney Sneed contributed to this report.

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