Trump's former A-G pick paid for sex and drugs: Report

The US House Ethics Committee has found that former Florida congressman Matt Gaetz paid tens of thousands of dollars to women for drugs and sex, including with a 17-year-old girl, US media reported on Dec 23, citing a final draft of the panel's report.

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Mr Gaetz, who has denied wrongdoing, resigned from the House of Representatives in November after he was selected by US President-elect Donald Trump to be attorney-general. He withdrew from consideration in the face of an uphill confirmation battle in the Senate.

In a bid to prevent the report's release, then expected on Dec 23, Mr Gaetz filed a lawsuit that day in federal court in Washington against the ethics panel arguing that it no longer had jurisdiction after he resigned from Congress.

"The committee's position regarding its lack of authority over former members represents a clear, well-established policy rather than an isolated interpretation," his lawyers wrote in a complaint.

His lawyers sought an emergency order to temporarily block publication of the report, which they argued would contain "untruthful and defamatory information" about Mr Gaetz.