By LISA MASCARO and ALANNA DURKIN RICHER WASHINGTON (AP) — The House Ethics Committee’s long-awaited report on Matt Gaetz documents a trove of salacious allegations , including sex with an underage girl, that tanked the Florida Republican’s bid to lead the Justice Department . Related Articles National Politics | President-elect Trump wants to again rename North America’s tallest peak National Politics | An analyst looks ahead to how the US economy might fare under Trump National Politics | Trump again calls to buy Greenland after eyeing Canada and the Panama Canal National Politics | House Ethics Committee accuses Gaetz of ‘regularly’ paying for sex, including with 17-year-old girl National Politics | Trump wants mass deportations. For the agents removing immigrants, it’s a painstaking process Citing text messages, travel receipts, online payments and testimony, the bipartisan committee paints a picture of a lifestyle in which Gaetz and others connected with younger women for drug-fueled parties, events or trips, with the expectation the women would be paid for their participation. The former congressman, who filed a last-minute lawsuit to try to block the report’s release on Monday, slammed the committee’s findings. Gaetz has denied any wrongdoing and has insisted he never had sex with a minor. And a Justice Department investigation into the allegations ended without any criminal charges filed against him. “Giving funds to someone you are dating — that they didn’t ask for — and that isn’t ‘charged’ for sex is now prostitution?!?” Gaetz wrote in one post on Monday. “There is a reason they did this to me in a Christmas Eve-Eve report and not in a courtroom of any kind where I could present evidence and challenge witnesses.” Here’s a look at some of the committee’s key findings: The committee found that between 2017 and 2020, Gaetz paid tens of thousands of dollars to women “likely in connection with sexual activity and/or drug use.” He paid the women using through online services such as PayPal, Venmo, and CashApp and with cash or check, the committee said. The committee said it found evidence that Gaetz understood the “transactional nature” of his relationships with the women. The report points to one text exchange in which Gaetz balked at a woman’s request that he send her money, “claiming she only gave him a ‘drive by.’” Women interviewed by the committee said there was a “general expectation of sex,” the report said. One woman who received more than $5,000 from Gaetz between 2018 and 2019 said that “99 percent of the time” that when she hung out with Gaetz “there was sex involved.” However, Gaetz was in a long-term relationship with one of the women he paid, so “some of the payments may have been of a legitimate nature,” the committee said. Text messages obtained by the committee also show that Gaetz would ask the women to bring drugs to their “rendezvous,” the report said. While most of his encounters with the women were in Florida, the committee said Gaetz also traveled “on several occasions” with women whom he paid for sex. The report includes text message exchanges in which Gaetz appears to be inviting various women to events, getaways or parties, and arranging airplane travel and lodging. Gaetz associate Joel Greenberg, who pleaded guilty to sex trafficking charges in 2021, initially connected with women through an online service. In one text with a 20-year-old woman, Greenberg suggested if she has a friend, the four of them could meet up. The woman responded that she usually does “$400 per meet.” Greenberg replied: “He understands the deal,” along with a smiley face emoji. Greenberg asks if they are old enough to drink alcohol, and sent the woman a picture of Gaetz. The woman responded that her friend found him “really cute.” “Well, he’s down here for only for the day, we work hard and play hard,” Greenberg replied. The report details a party in July 2017 in which Gaetz is accused of having sex with “multiple women, including the 17-year-old, for which they were paid.” The committee pointed to “credible testimony” from the now-woman herself as well as “multiple individuals” who corroborated the allegation. The then-17-year-old — who had just completed her junior year in high school — told the committee that Gaetz paid her $400 in cash that night, “which she understood to be payment for sex,” according to the report. The woman acknowledged that she had taken ecstasy the night of the party, but told the committee that she was “certain” of her sexual encounters with the then-congressman. There’s no evidence that Gaetz knew she was a minor when he had sex with her, the committee said. The woman told the committee she didn’t tell Gaetz she was under 18 at the time and that he didn’t how old she was. Rather, the committee said Gaetz learned she was a minor more than a month after the party. But he stayed in touch with her after that and met up with her for “commercial sex” again less than six months after she turned 18, according to the committee. In sum, the committee said it authorized 29 subpoenas for documents and testimony, reviewed nearly 14,000 documents and contacted more than two dozen witnesses. But when the committee subpoenaed Gaetz for his testimony, he failed to comply. “Gaetz pointed to evidence that would ‘exonerate’ him yet failed to produce any such materials,” the committee said. Gaetz “continuously sought to deflect, deter, or mislead the Committee in order to prevent his actions from being exposed.” The report details a months-long process that dragged into a year as it sought information from Gaetz that he decried as “nosey” and a “weaponization” of government against him. In one notable exchange, investigators were seeking information about the expenses for a 2018 get-away with multiple women to the Bahamas. Gaetz ultimately offered up his plane ticket receipt “to” the destination, but declined to share his return “from” the Bahamas. The report said his return on a private plane and other expenses paid by an associate were in violation of House gift rules. In another Gaetz told the committee he would “welcome” the opportunity to respond to written questions. Yet, after it sent a list of 16 questions, Gaetz said publicly he would “no longer” voluntarily cooperate. He called the investigation “frivolous,” adding: “Every investigation into me ends the same way: my exoneration.” The report said that while Gaetz’s obstruction of the investigation does not rise to a criminal violation it is inconsistent with the requirement that all members of Congress “act in a manner that reflects creditably upon the House.” The committee began its review of Gaetz in April 2021 and deferred its work in response to a Justice Department request. It renewed its work shortly after Gaetz announced that the Justice Department had ended a sex trafficking investigation without filing any charges against him. The committee sought records from the Justice Department about the probe, but the agency refused, saying it doesn’t disclose information about investigations that don’t result in charges. The committee then subpoenaed the Justice Department, but after a back-and-forth between officials and the committee, the department handed over “publicly reported information about the testimony of a deceased individual,” according to the report. “To date, DOJ has provided no meaningful evidence or information to the Committee or cited any lawful basis for its responses,” the committee said. Many of the women who the committee spoke to had already given statements to the Justice Department and didn’t want to “relive their experience,” the committee said. “They were particularly concerned with providing additional testimony about a sitting congressman in light of DOJ’s lack of action on their prior testimony,” the report said. The Justice Department, however, never handed over the women’s statements. The agency’s lack of cooperation — along with its request that the committee pause its investigation — significantly delayed the committee’s probe, lawmakers said.
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Did you know with a Digital Subscription to Yorkshire Evening Post, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Initially launched in a modest unit at Sunnybank Mills in October 2023, the store quickly outgrew its space behind The Old Woollen, prompting a move to a larger venue within the same development by autumn 2024 . John-Paul told the Yorkshire Evening Post : "It was busy pretty much straight away and has continued to be. So we quickly realised we needed to expand or have bigger premises to stock more items. We moved this summer and opened here at the end of September, in under a year. It's been quite a big jump up." Advertisement Advertisement With years of experience in the record store industry, opening his own shop felt like a natural progression for John-Paul. However, he initially had reservations about competing in Leeds ’ well-established music scene. He said: “There are so many great record shops in Leeds , so I wondered how we’d fit in. But Leeds is such a big city—there’s room for everyone.” Sunnybank Mills is home to a large variety of independent businesses, event spaces and art galleries, and proved the ideal location for Record Plant. John-Paul explained: "You're surrounded by creativity. There are lots of artists who are based here, and it's quite an up-and-coming area and continues to be so. Advertisement Advertisement "And I think that's been very good for us. It's a good place for people to come on a weekend [for people who] don't live here as well." Record Plant offers a diverse range of music, from the latest Taylor Swift releases to £100+ limited-edition box sets by The Smiths and Stone Roses. It also stocks music memorabilia, books, merchandise, and more. Among current bestsellers is records by MF Doom, the late British-American rapper whose music has seen a resurgence in popularity since his passing in Leeds in 2020. John-Paul thinks that one reason records have become so popular in the 21st century is the way people consume music in the age of social media : "[People] might hear something on a reel on Instagram or TikTok, and then buy the record." Leeds is home to renowned record stores that have built national reputations over decades . But for a new record store like Record Plant to open with such success that it had to move to a larger premise in under a year is no small feat. Advertisement Advertisement Don’t miss a single thing when it comes to news from Leeds with our free daily newsletter. John-Paul believes their success lies in building strong connections with customers: "We pride ourselves on, trying to get to know our customers and get things in that they want. And if we don't have what they want, we will do our best to get it. It's just a nice place to come and browse. "We've got a lot of things on display, and we're next to an art gallery. It's quite a visual shop, so people can come in and look at things. And even if they hadn't bought anything, they might go: 'Well, actually, I enjoyed going in there because I'd seen that'. "And we don't just sell records. We've got other kinds of merch and pop culture kind of bits and pieces which sell quite healthily." Advertisement Advertisement John-Paul hopes the Record Plant's rapid growth over the past year continues. He said: "I mean, I think we'll continue growing. We'd like to look at expansion, maybe looking at different, different shops and things. "Once you've got one business , it's almost like a springboard, because you've taken that risk - taking the plunge to do something. "The beauty of it is, you never know really until you're halfway through doing the next thing."AP Sports SummaryBrief at 6:08 p.m. EST
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Local, independent bookstores have never been more important. With fair access to literature under political attack, bookstores are a bulwark against censorship and an asset to the communities they serve. Each week we profile an , discovering what makes each one special and getting their expert book recommendations. This week we have manager Jennifer Hale of in Stowe, Vermont! was founded in 1970 in Stowe, Vermont on unceded Abenaki territory, and there were several owners before the current family came into ownership. Susan Adams ran this store with love for many years before passing it down to her daughter, Jennifer Hale, who is the current owner. It is a staple of the town with its long, winding shelves that entice tourists and locals alike. One of our staff members, who identifies as queer, has been working hard to bring more LGBTQIA+ and BIPOC books to our shelves, which we are very excited about. We are a community of 7,000 in Stowe, and while not everyone knows the staff's names by heart, they all know Staff Pup Tucker, our French bulldog who lives behind the counter. We have tourists who only come in once a year, and they ask after the dog the moment they walk into the store. As a town that was ranked among , Stowe has a lot of tourists and we strive to balance both books for our tourists and books for our locals. We host many author signings throughout the year and use our entire front room to spotlight local and New England authors and creators. My favorite section is our Staff Picks spot because our staff has such broad interests. There's always something new and interesting going out that even I would never have checked out otherwise, and it's clear that customers really enjoy being able to talk to a real person one-on-one about books, or even just knowing which person they should go to for a recommendation. It fosters a real sense of connection and has led to people coming back asking for a specific employee whose choices they trust. "A Psalm For The Wild Built" by Becky Chambers. If there was one book I could make everyone in the world read, it would be this one. More self help than science fiction, this book follows a Tea Monk in search of the last crickets. This book is for anyone who has struggled with their purpose or with feeling like they don't deserve something. In the words of Mosscap, a character in the book, “It is enough to exist in the world and marvel at it. You don’t need to justify that, or earn it. You are allowed to just live." "A Council Of Dolls" by Mona Susan Powers. This book left me speechless. Achingly beautiful and heart-breakingly honest, this book is a work of art. Following three generations of Yanktonai Dakota women and their experiences with “Indian Boarding Schools,” this book is an incredible work about resilience, love, healing, and the different ways trauma can echo through generations. It speaks to a section of our history too many people are not aware of and need to acknowledge. Shopping locally is always important – you know where your money is going and who it's supporting, unlike with big corporations. Local independent bookstores are even more important in this age of surging book bans. We will almost always have a more diverse collection of books, and are always more than happy to track down a book we don't have on our shelves. Bookstores provide community spaces for everyone, and (ideally) are a place where all are welcome to learn about whatever they want. Below is a list of our upcoming Author events for December & January. Author Events typically feature Vermont and New England authors and it allows for customers to meet the author, learn more about their books, ask questions and take home a signed copy. 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Dec. 14: Gina Tron, author of "Suspect"1 p.m.-3 p.m. Dec. 14: Ellen Parent, author of "After the Fall" 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Jan. 25: Susan Edwards Richmond, author or "Night Owl Night"
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