CBS News, the BBC's news US partner, obtained a copy of a congressional ethics investigation that alleges he paid numerous women, including a 17-year-old girl, for sex and violated multiple state laws related to sexual misconduct while in Congress. Gaetz has repeatedly denied all wrongdoing.

A former US lawmaker who was Donald Trump’s first pick to run the Justice Department regularly paid for lurid sex sessions at drug-fuelled parties, including with a 17-year-old schoolgirl, according to a scathing congressional report released Monday.

The House Ethics Committee’s long-awaited report into Rep. Matt Gaetz documents a trove of salacious allegations of misconduct, including sex with an underage girl, that tanked the Florida Republican’s nomination to lead the Justice Department.