Calls are growing for the report to be released.
A Congressional ethics panel has compiled an unfavorable report on Matt Gaetz, Trump’s pick for attorney general. The committee had planned to vote on releasing their findings last week, but the Florida Rep. abruptly resigned, effectively ending the probe.
But now, some are calling for the investigation into Gaetz’s alleged sexual misconduct and illegal drug use to be released to the Senate, who will vote on his appointment. Here’s a closer look.
The ethics probe into Matt Gaetz
In 2020, federal prosecutors began looking into allegations that Gaetz had broken federal sex trafficking laws and had an inappropriate relationship with a 17-year-old girl. The investigation lasted two years, until the Justice Department decided in 2023 not to charge the Congressman.
The House Ethics Committee opened its own inquiry in 2021, which also focused on the alleged sexual misconduct and claims he misused campaign funds and accepted gifts violating House rules, according to the New York Times.
The accusations surfaced after one of Gaetz’s friends, a tax collector in Florida named Joel Greenberg, came under investigation for corruption. During the inquiry authorities discovered that Greenberg had paid women, and a 17-year-old girl, to attend parties and have sex with him and his friends. Greenberg, who’s currently serving an 11-year prison sentence, told authorities that Gaetz had also had sex with the teen. That woman is now in her twenties and reportedly testified to the committee that Gaetz had sex with her when she was a minor in high school, ABC reports.
Will the ethics report into Matt Gaetz be released?
It’s unclear. House Speaker Mike Johnson has said that he doesn’t believe the report should be published now that Gaetz is no longer a legislator.
“I believe it is very important to maintain the House’s tradition of not issuing ethics reports on people who are no longer members of Congress,” he said. “I think it would open a Pandora’s box.”
However, calls from within Congress have been growing to make the findings public — or at least make them available to the Senate. Sen. John Cornyn, a key Republican member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has said that he’d like to see the review, while GOP Sen. Markwayne Mullin said he thinks the Senate “should have access” to it.
Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, a Democrat and chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said in a statement: “The sequence and timing of Mr. Gaetz’s resignation from the House raises serious questions about the contents of the House Ethics Committee report. We cannot allow this valuable information from a bipartisan investigation to be hidden from the American people.”
