According to recent reports, several false claims were made in the Nancy Pelosi-led House ethics report released on former Rep. Matt Gaetz. The investigation from the House Ethics Committee was initiated under Pelosi’s 117th Congress and released damning conclusions about Gaetz’s conduct as a private citizen year’s ago.
However, journalist Mollie Hemingway recently reported on several errors with the report that must be addressed. Ultimately, the investigation concluded that “there is evidence that Representative Gaetz paid women to travel to New York and Washington, D.C. for commercial sex” while supposedly presenting “substantial evidence that Representative Gaetz used cocaine, ecstasy, and marijuana.”
However, a lawyer on behalf of Chris Dorworth, a friend of Gaetz’s who was mentioned in the ethics report, has sent a letter to the House committee demanding that corrections be made regarding false reports. The letter reportedly outlines “three demonstrably false statements within your report” regarding Dorworth.
Firstly, the request claimed that “Mr. Dorworth believed that Representative Gaetz invited people to his home on the evening of July 15, 2017.” This date was a critical piece of the allegations brought against Gatez. However, the letter rebuked this assertion from the investigation. “No, Mr. Dorworth did not and has never believed that Representative Gaetz invited people to his house on July 15, 2017,” it read.
“To support your claim that Gaetz ‘invited’ people to my client’s home, you cite, in footnote 97, a gate log that doesn’t include Gaetz’s name on it and reference an affidavit and deposition transcripts that say nothing about Gaetz inviting anyone to my client’s home,” the letter continued. It also added, “Mr. Dorworth’s deposition transcript does not support this statement in your report, and it should be retracted immediately.”
Moreover, a second supposedly incorrect claim of the ethics reports suggested that Dorworth was presented with incontrovertible evidence that he was in attendance the night of July 15, 2017. “Mr. Dorworth was deposed and confronted with cell phone records showing that he was in fact at his residence during the party,” the letter from Dorwoth’s lawyer continued.
“As an attendee at Mr. Dorworth’s deposition, I can assure you he was never ‘confronted with any cell phone records,” it added, while claiming the records “were deemed ‘Attorneys Eyes Only’ at the time of Mr. Dorworth’s deposition.” He further noted that he was “mortified that the Committee on Ethics would include such a ridiculous conclusion.”
A third reported inacuracy of the report suggested that Dorworth’s counsel had never responded to the requests for testimony in the House. “The Committee requested, through counsel, that Mr. Dorworth clarify his testimony regarding his whereabouts on the evening of July 15, 2017; his counsel did not respond,” before explaining that, being Dorworth’s counsel, the laweyer had responded in September of this year.
The discovery of the supposed errors in the report has sparked a substantial response from commentators on social media. “Interesting. The House ‘Ethics’ Committee is caught here just flat out lying about three things in its report on Matt Gaetz. (In addition to all the other alleged falsehoods),” Hemingway said, sharing excerpts from the letter on X.
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