Probe finds Trump ally paid for underage sex

WASHINGTON: A former US lawmaker who was Donald Trump´s first pick to run the Justice Department regularly paid for lurid sex sessions at drug-fueled parties, including with a 17-year-old school girl, according to a scathing congressional report released on Monday.

Matt Gaetz also regularly used cocaine and ecstasy, and bought marijuana from his Capitol Hill office, said the 37-page document, the culmination of a long-running probe by the House Ethics Committee.

“The committee determined there is substantial evidence that Representative Gaetz violated House rules and other standards of conduct prohibiting prostitution, statutory rape, illicit drug use, impermissible gifts, special favours or privileges, and obstruction of Congress,” panel investigators wrote.

Gaetz has repeatedly denied wrongdoing -- pointing to the Justice Department´s decision not to bring charges against him in 2023 after a criminal probe -- and the report came out as his lawsuit to block its release was denied. Congressional investigators found that the 42-year-old Republican broke multiple Florida laws on sexual misconduct, although they cleared him of federal sex trafficking violations.