House Ethics conducted 28 sexual misconduct investigations in 50 years, with 4 Florida Congressmen targeted

The House Ethics Committee has conducted 28 investigations of sexual misconduct over the last 50 years. Five of those centered on Florida Congressmen, including two on the same lawmaker.

Another involved a prior Representative from North Carolina now seeking a seat in Southwest Florida.

All of the investigations had been previously discussed — one remains ongoing — but were publicly addressed anew amid growing complaints about sexual misconduct by members of Congress.

The House Ethics Committee published a list of every investigation in the Committee’s history, along with a statement stressing that the body never kept its investigations from the public.

“The Committee on Ethics is dedicated to maintaining a congressional workplace free from sexual misconduct and ensuring that any individuals responsible for misconduct are held responsible for their behavior. There should be zero tolerance for sexual misconduct, harassment, or discrimination in the halls of Congress, or in any employment setting,” reads a Committee statement.

“The Committee is also dedicated to providing transparency for the American public. The Committee has a long history of investigating allegations of sexual misconduct by Members of the House, ranging from criminal sexual activity to behavior implicating civil employment discrimination laws and more general standards of conduct. The Committee has always made public its findings whenever allegations of sexual misconduct were substantiated.”

So, who fell under the Committee’s investigatory gaze?

Cory Mills

The New Smyrna Beach Republican has increasingly faced calls to resign for several personal scandals. In November, the Committee expanded an ongoing investigation of whether he profited from defense contracts in Congress to now scrutinize allegations of “dating violence” and “sexual misconduct.”

An investigatory panel is currently looking at allegations by his Washington girlfriend, Sarah Raviani, that Mills assaulted her in their shared Washington apartment, allegations she later recanted, and from ex-girlfriend Lindsey Langston that Mills threatened to share intimate photos after a breakup. A Florida judge issued a restraining order in October.

Matt Gaetz

The Fort Walton Beach Republican resigned from Congress in 2024, when he was under consideration for U.S. Attorney General, but he was under investigation at the time for sexual misconduct. After he left the House, the Ethics Committee voted to publish a detailed report alleging he paid for sex with a 17-year-old girl.

The report included many allegations already otherwise made public about Gaetz. It presented testimony from one woman who said she had sex with Gaetz on a 2018 trip to the Bahamas. One woman also told Ethics Committee investigators that she saw Gaetz consume ecstasy on the trip.

Most provocatively, the report includes accusations from a woman who claimed she attended a sex party in July 2017 with several prominent political figures, including Gaetz. The woman said she was 17 at the time and had sex with Gaetz at the party twice.

Alcee Hastings

The late Fort Lauderdale Democrat was under investigation in 2020 over allegations of having an inappropriate sexual relationship. Still, the matter was closed when Hastings revealed he had married Patricia Williams, a longtime aide. The two were wed in 2019. He died in 2021.

But that was the second time Hastings had been investigated by the House Ethics Committee. In 2011, an individual filed an employment discrimination claim against the Helsinki Commission, which Hastings co-chaired. The witness “endured unwelcome sexual advances, sexual comments, and unwelcome touching by Representative Hastings,” according to a report from the Office of Congressional Conduct.

Ultimately, the Committee issued a report that found no sexual misconduct violations. Roll Call in 2017 reported that the staffer, Winsome Packer, had settled a lawsuit and received $220,000. Hastings always maintained his innocence and said he was “outraged” that taxpayers’ dollars funded any settlement.

Mark Foley

The Palm Beach Republican, who served in Congress from 1995 to 2006, ultimately resigned after sexually suggestive emails to male House pages, including minors, were made public. He quit shortly before the 2006 Midterms, when Democrats won a majority in the House after more than a decade in the minority.

The massive scandal, including an alleged cover-up by then-House Speaker Dennis Hastert, prompted an investigation by the House Ethics Committee. The House ended its page program a few years later.

Ultimately, the Committee chided leadership for failing to protect teenagers in the program from Foley’s advances, but determined no sitting members of Congress had violated House rules. Florida investigated Foley but brought no criminal charges.

Madison Cawthorn

The one-term North Carolina Congressman now lives in Cape Coral, where he is running in the Republican Primary to succeed U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds and return to the House. But while he served, House Ethics investigated him in 2022 over allegations of an improper relationship with a member of his staff.

While the Committee ultimately issued a fine for Cawthorn over profiting from a cryptocurrency scandal over the “Let’s Go Brandon” memecoin, it found no sexual misconduct on the Congressman’s part. Both Cawthorn and the staffer denied any romantic or sexual relationship. Charges related to publicly released videos that predated Cawthorn’s time in Congress.