The House Ethics Committee’s investigation into U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz has expanded once again, this time with the bipartisan group reaching out to another ex-girlfriend of the far-right Florida Republican, according to CNN.
While Gaetz’s attorneys in 2022 announced the U.S. Dept. of Justice had told them the Congressman would not be charged, the House Ethics Committee last summer revived its investigation. Now, it appears, a new area of investigation is opening.
The Ethics Committee “has reached out to an ex-girlfriend who was a key witness in the federal investigation into the Florida lawmaker, according to a source familiar with the ethics probe,” CNN revealed Thursday. “The outreach, which has not previously been reported, is a sign that the GOP-led committee’s investigation into the Florida Republican has recently expanded to include questioning around allegations of sex crimes, drug use and illicit benefits.”
CNN describes the woman as “a former Capitol Hill staffer, has been linked to Gaetz as far back as the summer of 2017,” who “was granted immunity in the federal criminal probe and testified before a grand jury in January 2022,” but adds she “is not expected to voluntarily cooperate with the Ethics probe.”
Gaetz told CNN he believes the Ethics Committee investigation is “payback” for his efforts to oust then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, but the investigation was opened before then. The DOJ investigation, which appears to have been shuttered, was originally approved by Trump-era Attorney General Bill Barr in 2020.
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