The House Ethics Committee on Tuesday said it has initiated a review of allegations regarding Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., which include engaging in sexual misconduct and illicit drug use as part of an inquiry that began in April 2021.

The committee said in a news release, though, it will “take no further action” on allegations that Gaetz might have shared inappropriate images or videos on the House floor, misused state identification records, converted campaign funds to personal use, and/or accepted a bribe or improper gratuity.

The committee said it deferred its inquiry in response to a request by the Department of Justice. But in May 2023, the committee said it reauthorized its investigation after the DOJ withdrew its deferral request.

“There has been a significant and unusual amount of public reporting on the Committee’s activities this Congress.,” the committee said in the news release. “Much of that reporting has been inaccurate. The Committee’s investigations are conducted confidentially, but the Committee’s confidentiality rules do not prohibit witnesses from disclosing information about the Committee’s requests or conversations with Committee investigators. The Committee is confident in the integrity of its process.”

The committee said it has spoken with more than a dozen witnesses, issued 25 subpoenas, and reviewed thousands of pages of documents in its inquiry. It said certain allegations “merit continued review,” including that Gaetz might have engaged in sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, accepted improper gifts, dispensed special privileges, and favors to individuals with whom he had a personal relationship, and sought to obstruct government investigations of his conduct.

Gaetz has vehemently denied all allegations and called the inquiry “frivolous.”

“The House Ethics Committee has closed four probes into me, which emerged from lies intended solely to smear me,” Gaetz wrote Monday in a post on X. “Instead of working with me to ban congressional stock trading, the Ethics Committee is now opening new frivolous investigations.

“They are doing this to avoid the obvious fact that every investigation into me ends the same way: my exoneration. This is Soviet. Kevin McCarthy showed them the man, and they are now trying to find the crime. I work for northwest Floridians who won’t be swayed by this nonsense and McCarthy and his goons know it.”

Gaetz was among eight Republicans who successfully led the fight to remove McCarthy as speaker last year. In a news conference Oct. 3 after he was ousted, McCarthy said Gaetz’s action was personal.

“You all know Matt Gaetz,” McCarthy said. “You know it was personal. It had nothing to do about spending. Everything he accused somebody of, he was doing. It all was about getting attention from you. We’re getting email fundraisers from him as he’s doing it. That’s not governing. That’s not becoming of a member of Congress.

“Regardless of what you think, I’ve seen the text, it was all about his ethics. But that’s all right.”

© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.