House committee reportedly told of second sexual encounter between Matt Gaetz and 17-year-old – live
Ethics committee were told of second sexual encounter between Gaetz and 17-year-old – report
Anna Betts
According to CNN, the woman who says she had sex when she was 17 years old with then-Representative Matt Gaetz told the House ethics committee that she had two sexual encounters with him at one party in 2017.
The CNN report cites unnamed sources, who claim that the second sexual encounter, not previously been reported, included another adult woman.
The network also states that after being asked for comment regarding the new allegations, the former representative announced that he was withdrawing from the attorney general nomination.
Gaetz has repeatedly denied the allegations against him.
The other woman in the alleged second sexual encounter, who was an adult at the time, has also denied taking part in the encounter, according to multiple sources familiar with her ethics testimony, CNN reported.
Key events
Anna Betts
Incoming Senate majority leader John Thune says that he respects Gaetz’s decision to withdraw.
“I think everybody has to make a decision that’s good for them and for their family,” Thune said, according to CNN. “And, you know, for whatever reason, he decided not to pursue it, so we respect the decision.”
Anna Betts
Florida senator Rick Scott says he is “disappointed” about Gaetz’s withdrawal.
“I’m disappointed. I’ve known Matt since I started running for governor, and he was a smart guy, worked hard,” Scott told CNN. “I had a great, great working relationship with him”.
When asked about who should be nominated to the role now that Gaetz has withdrawn, Scott told CNN that “the American public has completely lost trust of the federal government, and so we’re going to have to have somebody in there that goes and creates trust.”
Anna Betts
Speaking to a reporter, Representative Michael Guest, who chairs the House Ethics Committee, said that Gaetz’s withdrawal should end the discussion about whether the committee should “continue to move forward in this matter.”
This comes as just a day ago, the House ethics committee was deadlocked regarding the release of a report examining allegations of sexual misconduct against Gaetz.
Lawmakers from both parties had called for the report to be released before the Senate was scheduled to vote on whether to confirm Gaetz’s nomination as attorney general.
Anna Betts
More Republican Senators are reportedly reacting to the news of former representative Matt Gaetz’s withdrawal from the nomination for attorney general.
Here’s a quick roundup of some responses:
Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell called the decision “appropriate” according to the Washington Post.
Senator Cynthia Lummis told CNN that it was good that Gaetz recognised he was a distraction, and that this will allow Trump to appoint someone “equally tenacious” to lead the justice department.
“He must have gotten some signals yesterday during conversations that he was having with senators that this was going to be a distraction,” Lummis reportedly said.
Senator Susan Collins expressed that she was “surprised” but “pleased” with Gaetz’s decision, adding that he “has put country first, and I’m pleased with his decision”.
Senator Roger Wicker referred to the withdrawal as a “positive development”.
Anna Betts
Republican senator Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma describes Matt Gaetz’s decision to withdraw as “probably a good decision”.
“I think because of the reports that were coming out, it was probably a good decision” Mullin told reporters, adding that “I’m sure he talked to the President about it first.”
Ethics committee were told of second sexual encounter between Gaetz and 17-year-old – report
Anna Betts
According to CNN, the woman who says she had sex when she was 17 years old with then-Representative Matt Gaetz told the House ethics committee that she had two sexual encounters with him at one party in 2017.
The CNN report cites unnamed sources, who claim that the second sexual encounter, not previously been reported, included another adult woman.
The network also states that after being asked for comment regarding the new allegations, the former representative announced that he was withdrawing from the attorney general nomination.
Gaetz has repeatedly denied the allegations against him.
The other woman in the alleged second sexual encounter, who was an adult at the time, has also denied taking part in the encounter, according to multiple sources familiar with her ethics testimony, CNN reported.
Anna Betts
Republican senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina says that he respects former Representative Matt Gaetz’s decision to withdraw from the attorney general nomination.
His statement reads:
I respect former Representative Matt Gaetz’s decision to withdraw his name from consideration and appreciate his willingness to serve at the highest level of our government.
He is very smart and talented and will continue to contribute to our nation’s wellbeing for years to come.
I look forward to working with President Trump regarding future nominees to get this important job up and running.
Trump on Gaetz’s withdrawal: ‘He was doing very well but … did not want to be a distraction’
Donald Trump has released a statement on Matt Gaetz’s attorney general nomination withdrawal, saying on Truth Social:
I greatly appreciate the recent efforts of Matt Gaetz in seeking approval to be attorney general.
He was doing very well but, at the same time, did not want to be a distraction for the administration, for which he has much respect. Matt has a wonderful future, and I look forward to watching all of the great things he will do!
Gaetz reportedly informed Trump late Thursday morning that he will be withdrawing his nomination, ABC reports, citing sources familiar with the matter.
The reactions to Matt Gaetz’s surprise withdrawal of his attorney general nomination are coming in.
First up is California’s Democratic representative Eric Swalwell, who took to X and wrote:
“As I said repeatedly last week, Matt Gaetz is never, ever becoming Attorney General.
Like ever.”
Matt Gaetz withdraws as nominee for attorney general in Trump administration
Matt Gaetz has withdrawn his name from consideration as Donald Trump’s pick for attorney general, saying his “confirmation was unfairly becoming a distraction to the critical work of the Trump/Vance Transition”.
In a full statement on Thursday, Gaetz, who has been swept in a series of sexual allegation controversies and whose nomination has received widespread backlash from Democrats and former White House officials, said:
“I had excellent meetings with senators yesterday. I appreciate their thoughtful feedback – and the incredible support of so many. While the momentum was strong, it is clear that my confirmation was unfairly becoming a distraction to the critical work of the Trump/Vance Transition.
There is no time to waste on a needlessly protracted Washington scuffle, thus I’ll be withdrawing my name from consideration to serve as attorney general. Trump’s DOJ must be in place and ready on Day 1. I remain fully committed to see that Donald J. Trump is the most successful President in history. I will forever be honored that President Trump nominated me to lead the Department of Justice and I’m certain he will Save America.”
Hegseth on 2017 sexual assault allegations: ‘I was completely cleared’
Pete Hegseth, who arrived on Capitol Hill moments ago ahead of his visit with JD Vance and Republican senators, has repeated his denial of the 2017 sexual assault allegations against him.
Addressing reporters on Thursday morning, Donald Trump’s nominee for defense secretary said:
“As far as the media is concerned, it’s very simple. The matter was fully investigated, and I was completely cleared, and that’s where I’m gonna leave it.”
The New York Democratic representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has hit back at South Carolina’s Republican representative Nancy Mace over her attempts to ban trans people from using bathrooms on Capitol Hill that match their gender identity.
The Guardian’s Anna Betts reports:
The new restrictions, introduced by Republican representative Nancy Mace and supported by the GOP speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, bans transgender people, including congressional members, officers and employees, from using the single-sex bathrooms and other facilities in the Capitol and House office buildings that correspond to their gender identity.
The effort targets Democrat Sarah McBride, the first out transgender person elected to the US House of Representatives from Delaware, who is set to take office in January.
In a press interview on Wednesday evening, Ocasio-Cortez stood up for McBride and criticized Mace and the Republican lawmakers backing the bill, telling reporters that the proposed restrictions are “endangering all women and girls”.
For the full story, click here:
In an MSNBC interview set to air this weekend, former president Bill Clinton said the Democratic party has to “learn to talk to people in ways they can relate to.”
Speaking to the outlet following the Democrats’ loss to Donald Trump and the Republican party during presidential election, Clinton – who campaigned for Kamala Harris – said:
“Politics is the only business in which you can prove your authenticity by not knowing anything… I think that’s a problem and we’ll pay for it unless we get over it, but that’s a problem for the Democrats too.
We have to learn to talk to people in ways that they can relate to that explains that. That’s why…I did my best to help this time. I don’t want to go to any big rallies and big television things. I just wanted to get in the country.
Just go out and talk to people because I think that we’re behind in the sense that a lot of the small-town and rural people are now highly sophisticated and how they get their information. And there are zillions of new websites now all trying to advance their sort of conservative to right-wing radical cause. And a lot of times we’re not playing on the same field and we’re not even being heard. So I just said, send me out there and I’ll see if I can do some good. I have no idea if I did, but I tried.”
Illinois senator and army veteran Tammy Duckworth: Hegseth ‘not qualified’ to be defense secretary
Speaking to ABC, Illinois Democratic senator and retired army national guard lieutenant colonel Tammy Duckworth criticized Pete Hegseth’s belief that women should not play in a combat role.
Duckworth, who is a combat veteran of the Iraq war where she served as a army helicopter pilot before losing both legs during an attack in 2004, said:
“Obviously I have my personal opinions but as a US senator, my job will be to determine whether or not he is qualified to be secretary of defense, and frankly, it shows me that he’s not because he doesn’t understand the realities of modern warfare.
We’re not talking about the Revolutionary War, where there’s a line behind which … this is combat and that’s not combat. If you were in the green zone … Baghdad, you were in a combat zone, whether you were a helicopter pilot like myself or a truck driver, which, by the way, is a job that women have been doing since world war one. So it just showed me that he really doesn’t understand modern warfare and is therefore not qualified to be secretary of defense.”
Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy – heads of the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency – have suggested that Donald Trump could require government employees to work in the office five days a week as part of reducing the federal workforce.
The Guardian’s Sam Levine reports:
“Requiring federal employees to come to the office five days a week would result in a wave of voluntary terminations that we welcome: If federal employees don’t want to show up, American taxpayers shouldn’t pay them for the Covid-era privilege of staying home,” Musk and Ramaswamy wrote in a Wednesday op-ed in the Wall Street Journal. Trump has tapped both men to lead the newly created department of government efficiency.
The two men, who have no prior experience in government, also suggested Trump would undertake “large-scale firings” and relocate government agencies outside of Washington.
Musk requires employees at SpaceX and Tesla to work in person and has described it as a moral issue.
“People should get off the goddamn moral high horse with the work-from-home bullshit,” he said in 2023.
For the full story, click here:
Trump transition team says 2017 report ‘corroborates’ what Hegseth attorneys have said
A spokesperson for Donald Trump’s transition said that the police report “corroborates what Mr [Pete] Hegseth’s attorney’s have said all along”, the Associated Press reports.
“The incident was fully investigated and no charges were filed because police found the allegations to be false,” the spokesperson said.
The report, however, does not state that Monterey police found the allegations to be false. The offence code in the report was listed as “rape: victim unconscious of the nature of the act”.
The report ended with the reporting police officer writing, “I recommend this case report be forwarded to the Monterey county district attorney’s office for review.”
According to the report, the woman, identified as Jane Doe, “stated she observed Pete Hegseth acting inappropriately” with women at the conference, adding that he told her she was a “nice guy”.
The report stated:
“Hegseth would rub the women on their legs and Jane Doe thought that his actions were inappropriate. Jane Doe had texted [redacted] that Hegseth was giving off a ‘creeper’ vibe. The women thought Hegseth was ‘dreamy’ and wanted pictures with Hegseth. Jane Doe stated she had also taken a picture with Hegseth, earlier in the day …”
The report went on to add:
“Jane Doe stated she remembered walking out of the bar and assumed Hegseth followed her because she argued with Hegseth near the pool. The argument was about Hegseth’s actions with the women at the conference. Jane Doe remembered Hegseth tell her that he was a nice guy.
Jane Doe stated the next memory she had was when she was in an unknown room. Jane Doe did not know where she was and how she got to the room. Hegseth was in the room with her. Jane Doe remembered having her phone and Hegseth inquired to whom Jane Doe was texting. Hegseth took her phone from her hands. Jane Doe stated she got up and tried to leave the room, but Hegseth blocked the door with his body. Jane Doe remembered saying ‘no’ a lot. Jane Doe stated she did not remember much else.”
The woman then recalled being on a bed or a couch with Hegseth over her, with his dog tags hovering over her shirt. She added that she saw Hegseth “fully nude” during this incident.
According to the woman, her next memory was when Hegseth ejaculated on her stomach before throwing a towel at her and asking, “Are you okay?”
The woman’s last memory is of her walking into her room. She told the police that she did not remember how she got back to her room.
Pete Hegseth to visit Capitol as details from 2017 sexual assault report emerge
Good morning,
The scrutiny around Pete Hegseth, Donald Trump’s nominee for defense secretary, grows as police unveiled an investigative report into the former Fox News host that further detailed the sexual assault allegations surrounding him.
The 22-page report released by police dates back to 12 October 2017. It includes allegations from a woman who told police that she was sexually assaulted by Hegseth after drinking at a hotel bar in Monterey, California following a Republican women’s event where Hegseth spoke. According to the report, Hegseth assaulted the woman after he took her phone, blocked the door to a hotel room and prevented her from leaving.
The police report’s release follows recent news of “a detailed memo” on the alleged assault which a friend of the accuser sent to the Trump transition team. Hegseth has insisted the encounter was consensual but paid the woman an unknown sum after she signed a nondisclosure agreement.
Emerging details of the alleged assault come as Hegseth is set to visit Capitol Hill today. The former Fox host is expected to meet with JD Vance and Republican senators ahead of his confirmation process.
Here are other developments in US politics:
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The Senate has rejected Bernie Sanders’ effort to block arms sales to Israel which the Vermont senator introduced out of concerns over the mass killings of Palestinians by Israeli forces in Gaza.
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Joe Biden is set to sign the Congenital Heart Futures Reauthorization Act today which will reauthorize the national research, surveillance and awareness program on heart disease.
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Trump is likely to choose Johns Hopkins surgeon Martin Makary – who raised concerns about various public health issues including opposing vaccine mandates – as head of the Food and Drug Administration.
