The House Ethics Committee releases report on former Rep. Matt Gaetz, and Lara Trump ends her push for an appointment to the U.S Senate.

House Ethics Committee accuses Gaetz of ‘regularly’ paying for sex, including with 17-year-old girl

The House Ethics Committee on Monday accused Matt Gaetz of “regularly” paying for sex, including with a 17-year-old girl, and purchasing and using illicit drugs all while the Florida Republican was a member of Congress.

Gaetz has denied all wrongdoing.

The 37-page report by the bipartisan panel includes explicit details of sex-filled parties and vacations that Gaetz, now 42, took part in from 2017 to 2020 while representing Florida’s western panhandle. The findings conclude that he violated multiple state laws related to sexual misconduct while in office.

“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 favors or privileges, and obstruction of Congress,” the report states.

The report brings to a close a nearly five-year investigation into Gaetz, who spent the majority of his time in Washington enmeshed in scandals, which ultimately derailed his nomination by President-elect Donald Trump as attorney general. His political future is uncertain, although Gaetz indicated recently that he would be interested in running for the open Senate seat in Florida.

The long-anticipated release of the report comes after at least one Republican joined all five Democrats on the panel earlier this month in a secret vote to release the report about their former colleague despite initial opposition from GOP lawmakers, including House Speaker Mike Johnson, to publishing findings about a former member of Congress.

\While ethics reports have previously been released after a member’s resignation, it is extremely rare. Gaetz objected to its release, saying last week that he would have “no opportunity to debate or rebut” the findings as a former member of the House.

On Monday, Gaetz filed a lawsuit seeking to block the release of the report, which he says contains “untruthful and defamatory information” that would “significantly damage” his “standing and reputation in the community.” Gaetz’s complaint argues he’s no longer under the committee’s jurisdiction since he resigned from Congress.

Lara Trump ends push for Senate appointment

Former RNC co-chair Lara Trump has announced she is dropping out of consideration for Sen. Marco Rubio's, R-Fla., position.

It was the highest level of deportations in a decade and a 90% increase from 2023. 

Lara Trump, the daughter-in-law to President-elect Donald Trump, posted on X on Saturday saying in part:

"After an incredible amount of thought, contemplation, and encouragement from so many, I have decided to remove my name from consideration for the United States Senate."

She went on to say she will have a big announcement in January.

At a wide-ranging news conference last week, Donald Trump seemed skeptical that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis would appoint his daughter-in-law to be a Florida senator.

Asked whether he expected DeSantis to name Lara Trump to replace Rubio, Trump said, “I probably don’t, but I don’t know.”

Trump's allies had been pushing DeSantis to nominate Lara Trump, who is married to Trump's son, Eric.

There are some other names that have been floated to fill Rubio's position.

They include Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody and Florida Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nuñez.

Biden gives life in prison to 37 of 40 federal death row inmates so Trump can't have them executed

President Joe Biden announced Monday that he is commuting the sentences of 37 of the 40 people on federal death row, converting their punishments to life imprisonment mere weeks before President-elect Donald Trump, an outspoken proponent of expanding capital punishment, takes office.

The move spares the lives of people convicted in killings, including the slayings of police and military officers, people on federal land and those involved in deadly bank robberies or drug deals, as well as the killings of guards or prisoners in federal facilities.

It means just three federal inmates are still facing execution. They are Dylann Roof, who carried out the 2015 racist slayings of nine Black members of Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, 2013 Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and Robert Bowers, who fatally shot 11 congregants at Pittsburgh’s Tree of life Synagogue in 2018, the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S history.

“I’ve dedicated my career to reducing violent crime and ensuring a fair and effective justice system,” Biden said in a statement. “Today, I am commuting the sentences of 37 of the 40 individuals on federal death row to life sentences without the possibility of parole. These commutations are consistent with the moratorium my administration has imposed on federal executions, in cases other than terrorism and hate-motivated mass murder.”