# Matt Gaetz
**Matt Gaetz** (Matthew Louis Gaetz II, born 1982) is an American lawyer and Republican politician who represented Florida's 1st Congressional District in the [United States House of Representatives](https://www.edgepedia.org/united-states-house-of-representatives) from January 3, 2017 until his resignation on November 13, 2024, and who served previously in the [Florida House of Representatives](https://www.edgepedia.org/florida-house-of-representatives) from 2010 to 2016.[1](https://history.house.gov/People/Detail/15032440608) His resignation came days after President-elect Donald Trump announced his intention to nominate him as [United States Attorney General](https://www.edgepedia.org/united-states-attorney-general), a nomination Gaetz later withdrew.[2](https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CRPT-118hrpt943/html/CRPT-118hrpt943.htm) In December 2024 the House Committee on Ethics released a report finding substantial evidence that he had violated House rules and state laws through prostitution, statutory rape, illicit drug use, impermissible gifts, and obstruction of Congress; Gaetz has repeatedly denied the allegations.[2](https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CRPT-118hrpt943/html/CRPT-118hrpt943.htm) • [3](https://rollcall.com/2024/12/23/matt-gaetz-ethics-committee-report/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born | Hollywood, Broward County, Florida, 1982[1](https://history.house.gov/People/Detail/15032440608) |
| Education | B.S., Florida State University, 2003; J.D., William & Mary Law School, 2007[1](https://history.house.gov/People/Detail/15032440608) |
| Legal career | Admitted to the Florida Bar in 2008; practiced at AnchorsGordon (formerly Keefe, Anchors & Gordon) in Fort Walton Beach[4](https://politifact.com/article/2024/nov/15/is-matt-gaetz-accomplished-attorney-digging/) |
| Florida House | Member 2010–2016[1](https://history.house.gov/People/Detail/15032440608) |
| U.S. House | Representative for Florida's 1st District, January 3, 2017 – November 13, 2024; reelected to the 119th Congress but declined the seat[1](https://history.house.gov/People/Detail/15032440608) |
| Attorney general nomination | Nominated by President-elect Trump in November 2024; resigned from the House and later withdrew from consideration[2](https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CRPT-118hrpt943/html/CRPT-118hrpt943.htm) |
| Ethics report | House Report 118-943 (December 24, 2024) found substantial evidence of violations of House rules and state laws, and of standards of conduct[2](https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CRPT-118hrpt943/html/CRPT-118hrpt943.htm) |
## Early life, education, and legal career
Gaetz was born in Hollywood, Broward County, Florida, graduated from Niceville High School in 2000, earned a B.S. from [Florida State University](https://www.edgepedia.org/florida-state-university) in 2003, and received a J.D. from William & Mary Law School in 2007.[1](https://history.house.gov/People/Detail/15032440608) He was admitted to the Florida Bar in 2008 and worked for the law firm AnchorsGordon, previously known as Keefe, Anchors & Gordon, in Fort Walton Beach, a city within the congressional district he later represented.[4](https://politifact.com/article/2024/nov/15/is-matt-gaetz-accomplished-attorney-digging/) A PolitiFact review of court records found that he argued at least seven cases in his home county, was 2-0 in appellate cases, and had no formal disciplinary record with the Florida Bar, though a bar committee sent him a critical letter after he appeared to threaten former Trump attorney Michael Cohen before Cohen's 2019 congressional testimony.[4](https://politifact.com/article/2024/nov/15/is-matt-gaetz-accomplished-attorney-digging/)
His father, [Don Gaetz](https://www.edgepedia.org/don-gaetz), served in the Florida Senate and was its president from 2012 to 2014.[5](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/10/04/matt-gaetz-who-is/)
## Political career
Gaetz won a seat in the Florida state House of Representatives in 2010 at age 28 and served there from 2010 to 2016.[4](https://politifact.com/article/2024/nov/15/is-matt-gaetz-accomplished-attorney-digging/) • [6](https://time.com/5228970/rep-matt-gaetz-wants-to-make-trumpism-the-new-normal/) In 2016 he was elected as a Republican to the 115th Congress from Florida's 1st District, a safe Republican seat covering the state's western Panhandle, and was reelected to each succeeding Congress.[1](https://history.house.gov/People/Detail/15032440608) • [7](https://time.com/6186037/matt-gaetz-marjorie-taylor-greene-maga-house-republicans/) He served on the Armed Services and Judiciary Committees.[8](https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CDIR-2022-10-26/html/CDIR-2022-10-26-FL-H-1.htm)
Gaetz became nationally known for his television appearances, for controversial statements, and for confrontations within his own party. In October 2023 he filed a motion to vacate (a House procedure allowing removal of the Speaker) the speakership against [Kevin McCarthy](https://www.edgepedia.org/kevin-mccarthy), a maneuver that had not previously succeeded in the history of Congress; McCarthy's removal led to weeks of voting before Mike Johnson won the majority.[4](https://politifact.com/article/2024/nov/15/is-matt-gaetz-accomplished-attorney-digging/) • [9](https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2024/04/matt-gaetz-house-republican-congress-profile/677915/)
## Attorney general nomination and resignation
On November 13, 2024, Gaetz resigned from the House shortly after President-elect Trump announced his intention to nominate him as Attorney General; his resignation came just before the House Ethics Committee was set to meet on his investigation.[1](https://history.house.gov/People/Detail/15032440608) • [10](https://www.axios.com/newsletters/axios-am-181d5bb0-a208-11ef-8df2-33e549d39048) He had been reelected to the 119th Congress on Election Day but declined the seat.[1](https://history.house.gov/People/Detail/15032440608) His nomination drew strong criticism, and he withdrew from consideration; the Ethics report released afterward was described as having helped sink the nomination.[2](https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CRPT-118hrpt943/html/CRPT-118hrpt943.htm) • [11](https://apnews.com/article/538cb5387bf95925245bf87fa6b1adcb) His resignation left Florida's 1st District vacant, with the district's offices administered by the Clerk of the House until a successor was elected in a special election.[12](https://clerk.house.gov/member_info/vacancies/vacant-office-press-release-FL01.pdf)
## Investigations and the Ethics Committee report
The Justice Department opened a sex-trafficking investigation of Gaetz in the final months of the Trump administration, tied in part to Joel Greenberg, a former Seminole County tax collector who pleaded guilty in 2021 to six federal crimes including sex trafficking.[13](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/06/18/matt-gaetz-house-ethics-committee/) • [14](https://politifact.com/article/2024/nov/19/whats-going-on-with-matt-gaetzs-attorney-general-b/) Federal prosecutors closed the investigation in February 2023 without pressing charges.[13](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/06/18/matt-gaetz-house-ethics-committee/)
The House Committee on Ethics began its own investigation on April 9, 2021, deferred it at the Justice Department's request, and reauthorized it in the 118th Congress.[2](https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CRPT-118hrpt943/html/CRPT-118hrpt943.htm) After Gaetz resigned, the committee lost jurisdiction over him, but a majority of its members voted on December 10, 2024 to release the findings, and the report was issued on December 24, 2024 as House Report 118-943.[2](https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CRPT-118hrpt943/html/CRPT-118hrpt943.htm) The committee found substantial evidence that from at least 2017 to 2020 Gaetz regularly paid women for sexual activity, that in 2017 he engaged in sexual activity with a 17-year-old girl, that from 2017 to 2019 he used or possessed illegal drugs including cocaine and ecstasy, that he accepted impermissible gifts in connection with a 2018 trip to the Bahamas, that in 2018 he arranged for his chief of staff to help a woman with whom he was sexually involved obtain a passport by falsely indicating she was a constituent, and that he knowingly and willfully sought to obstruct the committee's investigation.[2](https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CRPT-118hrpt943/html/CRPT-118hrpt943.htm) The committee did not find sufficient evidence that he violated the federal sex trafficking statute.[2](https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CRPT-118hrpt943/html/CRPT-118hrpt943.htm) Gaetz was uncooperative with the review, declined a voluntary interview, and did not appear for a July 2024 subpoena deposition; he filed a federal lawsuit seeking to block the report's release, arguing that as a private citizen he was outside the committee's jurisdiction.[2](https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CRPT-118hrpt943/html/CRPT-118hrpt943.htm) • [15](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/read-matt-gaetz-ethics-report-house-investigation/) He has denied wrongdoing throughout.[3](https://rollcall.com/2024/12/23/matt-gaetz-ethics-committee-report/)
## Civil lawsuit and later activity
In October 2026, two women who said they were in their early 20s in 2017 when they met Gaetz through Joel Greenberg filed a lawsuit against him in federal court in Orlando, alleging that he sexually exploited them and other men in violation of a federal anti-trafficking law and that he provided drugs and paid the women for sex, out-of-state travel, lodging, and other expenses.[16](https://apnews.com/article/28a96cb4148c0650bfefa1f9e81fa2c1) The suit came nearly two years after the Ethics Committee report.[16](https://apnews.com/article/28a96cb4148c0650bfefa1f9e81fa2c1) Gaetz hosts a political talk show on [One America News Network](https://www.edgepedia.org/one-america-news-network).[16](https://apnews.com/article/28a96cb4148c0650bfefa1f9e81fa2c1)
## References
1. [GAETZ, Matthew L., II, U.S. House of Representatives: History, Art & Archives](https://history.house.gov/People/Detail/15032440608)
2. [House Report 118-943, In the Matter of Allegations Relating to Representative Matt Gaetz, Committee on Ethics](https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CRPT-118hrpt943/html/CRPT-118hrpt943.htm)
3. [Bombshell report finds evidence Gaetz had sex with minor, paid for sex and took drugs while in Congress, Roll Call](https://rollcall.com/2024/12/23/matt-gaetz-ethics-committee-report/)
4. [Is Matt Gaetz 'an accomplished attorney'? Digging into Trump AG pick's record as a Florida lawyer, PolitiFact](https://politifact.com/article/2024/nov/15/is-matt-gaetz-accomplished-attorney-digging/)
5. [Who is Matt Gaetz? From GOP sidelines to ousting Kevin McCarthy, The Washington Post](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/10/04/matt-gaetz-who-is/)
6. [Rep. Matt Gaetz Wants to Make Trumpism the New Normal, One TV Appearance at a Time, TIME](https://time.com/5228970/rep-matt-gaetz-wants-to-make-trumpism-the-new-normal/)
7. [How the 'MAGA Squad' Is Building Power to Control the Next Congress, TIME](https://time.com/6186037/matt-gaetz-marjorie-taylor-greene-maga-house-republicans/)
8. [Congressional Directory for the 117th Congress, October 2022, GovInfo](https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CDIR-2022-10-26/html/CDIR-2022-10-26-FL-H-1.htm)
9. [Matt Gaetz Is Winning, The Atlantic](https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2024/04/matt-gaetz-house-republican-congress-profile/677915/)
10. [Axios AM: Why Trump picked Gaetz](https://www.axios.com/newsletters/axios-am-181d5bb0-a208-11ef-8df2-33e549d39048)
11. [House Ethics Committee accuses Gaetz of paying for sex, including with 17-year-old girl, AP News](https://apnews.com/article/538cb5387bf95925245bf87fa6b1adcb)
12. [Offices of the First Congressional District to Remain Open, Office of the Clerk, U.S. House](https://clerk.house.gov/member_info/vacancies/vacant-office-press-release-FL01.pdf)
13. [House Ethics Committee expands probe into Matt Gaetz, The Washington Post](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/06/18/matt-gaetz-house-ethics-committee/)
14. [What's going on with Matt Gaetz's attorney general bid and the House ethics report?, PolitiFact](https://politifact.com/article/2024/nov/19/whats-going-on-with-matt-gaetzs-attorney-general-b/)
15. [Read the Matt Gaetz ethics report on findings from House committee investigation, CBS News](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/read-matt-gaetz-ethics-report-house-investigation/)
16. [Lawsuit by 2 women accuses ex-Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz of sex trafficking, AP News](https://apnews.com/article/28a96cb4148c0650bfefa1f9e81fa2c1)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Society and history › Politics and government › Government and public administration › Politicians and government officeholders (biographies) › US House members › Southern state representatives › Surnames E to J*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 28, 2026; Sep 29, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 28, 2026; Sep 29, 2026; Oct 12, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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