WASHINGTON — House lawmakers are expected to vote Thursday whether to compel the Ethics Committee to release its report on an exhaustive, yearslong investigation into former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla.
The bipartisan Ethics panel met privately — for a second time — Thursday to discuss whether to make public the report concerning allegations that Gaetz engaged in illicit drug use and sexual misconduct with a 17-year-old girl, obstructed the House probe and other claims. But the panel did not appear to have come to a decision, saying it a statement after the meeting that it is “continuing to discuss the matter.”
Gaetz has denied the allegations, which contributed to some Senate Republicans saying behind closed doors that they would not vote to confirm him as President-elect Donald Trump’s attorney general.
Before Thanksgiving, on Nov. 20, the 10-member panel deadlocked over publishing the report into Gaetz, whom Trump announced as his pick for attorney general on Nov. 13, the same day Gaetz resigned from Congress. But Gaetz dropped his bid to run the Justice Department on Nov. 21— a move Ethics Chairman Michael Guest, R-Miss., said “should end the discussion” about releasing the report.
Guest declined to answer questions about the matter on Wednesday.
Without an agreement from the Ethics Committee, the full House is slated to vote on the matter in the evening, putting all lawmakers on record. Two Democrats — Rep. Sean Casten of Illinois and Steve Cohen of Tennessee — on Tuesday offered resolutions focused on the Gaetz report.
Casten’s resolution would direct the committee to release its report to the public, while Cohen’s resolution would force the committee to preserve and release records of its review of Gaetz. Because the resolutions are “privileged,” they must be voted on within two legislative days.
The votes are largely expected to be along party lines. Democrats are pushing to release the report, with Gaetz openly flirting with a bid for Florida governor in 2026 or being mentioned for another potential role in the Trump White House, one that may not need to be confirmed by the Senate.
But no Republicans have stated they want the report released, arguing that the Ethics Committee only has jurisdiction over sitting members of Congress — not ex-members. Despite their wafer-thin majority, Republicans are expected to succeed in “tabling” or killing the Casten and Cohen resolutions.
House Democrats tried to do the same thing in September 1996, pressing the Ethics Committee to release a report from an outside counsel about its investigation of then-Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga. But the House rejected the resolution in a vote on the floor.
Democrats this time are pushing back against the GOP argument that the Ethics panel can’t publish a report about a member who recently resigned. Casten’s resolution cites multiple instances of the Ethics panel releasing reports about former lawmakers.
For example, on Oct. 5, 1987, Rep. Bill Boner, D-Tenn., resigned to become mayor of Nashville. The Ethics Committee released an initial staff report the following December examining allegations that Boner misused campaign funds, failed to disclose gifts and accepted bribes.
And in 2006, after Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla., resigned from office over revelations he sent explicit electronic messages to at least one teenage former congressional page, the Ethics panel released its report into the matter.
“Whereas given the serious nature of the allegations against Representative Gaetz,” Casten’s resolution states, “a failure of the Committee on Ethics of the House of Representatives to publicly release its report on its investigation undermines the committee’s credibility and impedes the safety, dignity, and integrity of the legislative proceedings of the House.”
