The Matt Gaetz Texts Are Just as Incriminating as You Might Have Suspected

The House Ethics Report on Matt Gaetz is even more damning than you might have imagined. The report alleges that Gaetz repeatedly paid for sex, used drug frequently, and at least once paid for sex with an underage women. All of this is supported, at least in part, by text messages from Gaetz's phone and from the phones of people who were in his orbit.

Following the news that there were troves of text messages available for perusal, many wanted to know more about they said. Needless to say, they're just as problematic as everything else in the report. Here's what we know about what they say.

Although the Ethics Report includes a number of text messages in its appendix, there are a few that stand out as particularly unbelievable. In one, Gaetz's associate and convicted sex trafficker Joel Greenberg suggests a meetup between him, Gaetz, and two women. The messages include a photo of Gaetz, as well as a message from Greenberg explaining “Well, he’s down here only for the day, we work hard and play hard … Have you ever tried molly.”

While much of this bad behavior took place in Florida, which is Gaetz's home state, it also occurred sporadically in other parts of the country, including one trip where he paid women to fly to New York to meet him and asked them to bring "party favors."

There was a separate conversation between two women that suggested that Gaetz was sometimes not willing to pay for sex.

“The guys [Gaetz and Greenberg] wanted me to share that they are a little limited in their cash flow this weekend,” a text from Gaetz’s then-girlfriend says. “Matt was like, if it can be more of a customer appreciation week…”

In another text, it looks like Gaetz cut a $1,500 check to pay for someone's tuition fees, receiving the reply “You are the best human to walk the earth" after he said he was "on it."

The House Ethics report says that it found substantial evidence that Gaetz engaged in prostitution, illegal drug use, and statutory rape between 2017 and 2020. Gaetz has continued to deny the allegations against him, and the Department of Justice previously opened an investigation into Gaetz but declined to bring any charges.

Now, the House Ethics Committee has decided to release its evidence to the public and let them make up their own minds over the fervent objections of some Republicans who did not want the report to be released.

The texts are just one piece of a broader report that also included interviews with dozens of witnesses.

While there are some people who may be skeptical of the conclusions the report draws, the evidence is pretty persuasive. Text messages are a difficult thing to fake, and in the case of Gaetz, there are so many of them that it almost looks like pattern. You can read the full report here.