The House Ethics Committee announced that it will not release a report on former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), but may consider doing so in the future.
“There was not an agreement by the committee to release the report,” Chairman Michael Guest (R-MS) told reporters.
Ranking Member Susan Wild (D-PA) noted that the panel agreed to refrain from releasing the report, it would “reconvene as a committee on Dec. 5 to further consider this matter.”
In 2021, the committee declared that it launched an investigation into whether Gaetz “engaged in sexual misconduct and/or illicit drug use, shared inappropriate images or videos on the House floor, misused state identification records, converted campaign funds to personal use, and/or accepted a bribe, improper gratuity, or impermissible gift, in violation of House Rules, laws, or other standards of conduct.”
The Department of Justice later said that its own investigation concluded and Gaetz would not be charged with any crimes.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) previously expressed opposition to the possibility of the report being released. Speaking to “Fox News Sunday” host Shannon Bream, Johnson said that releasing the report would “open a Pandora’s box.”
“There’s a very important reason for the tradition and the rule that we always have – almost always followed – and that is that we don’t issue investigations and ethics reports on people who are not members of Congress. I’m afraid that that would open a Pandora’s box because the jurisdiction of the Ethics Committee is limited to those who are serving in the institution. That’s its very purpose. And I think this would be a breach of protocol that could be dangerous for us going forward in the future,” he said.
Rep. Sean Casten (D-IL) may force a vote to release the report.
“The allegations against Matt Gaetz are serious. They are credible. The House Ethics Committee has spent years conducting a thorough investigation to get to the bottom of it,” Casten said. “This information must be made available for the Senate to provide its constitutionally required advice and consent.”
He added that if the “Ethics Committee chooses to withhold this information, later today I will introduce a privileged resolution to require a vote by the full House of Representatives on the release of the Gaetz report.”
