Marjorie Taylor Greene made a sensational allegation that her Republican colleagues in Congress have covered up “sexual harassment and assault claims” by paying off victims with taxpayer money.
The MAGA diehard made the revelation as a growing number of GOP politicians have expressed reservations about Donald Trump’s choice to appoint the scandal-scarred ex-lawmaker Matt Gaetz to be his attorney general.
“For my Republican colleagues in the House and Senate,” she began. “If we are going to release ethics reports and rip apart our own that Trump has appointed, then put it ALL out there for the American people to see.”
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Greene’s request would include the House ethics committee releasing the findings of its probe into the 42-year-old Gaetz, who was accused this week of paying two women for sex. One of those women reportedly testified that they also witnessed the then-freshman Congressman have sex with a 17-year-old girl at a house party five years ago.
The congressional ethics panel is also said to have explored allegations that Gaetz used illegal drugs and took bribes. Gaetz has denied all allegations levied against him over the years and has claimed he’s the victim of an extortion plot by people inside the DOJ.
Greene said there’s other lawmakers with skeletons in their closet, but stopped short of calling them out by name. CNN reported in 2017 that Congress paid an eye-popping $17 million to victims of sexual harassment and discrimination via the body’s Office of Compliance since its creation in the 1990s.
“All the ethics reports and claims, including the one I filed,” Greene said, listing the things she wants to be made public. “All your sexual harassment and assault claims that were secretly settled paying off victims with tax payer money. The entire Jeffrey Epstein files, tapes, recordings, witness interviews.”
Other lawmakers didn’t rush to back up Greene’s request. Many Republicans have remained mum on Gaetz’ ethics probe, which was set to be released last week but was put on ice indefinitely after he abruptly resigned from Congress.
Greene suggested there’s no reason that completed reports and settlements involving lawmakers—including Gaetz’ probe—shouldn’t be made public. While she wrote that she’d even filed an ethics report herself, she didn’t specify what, or who, it involved.
The Georgia firebrand ended with a commitment to make public as many purported claims as possible: “If we’re going to dance, let’s all dance in the sunlight. I’ll make sure we do.”
