House Ethics Committee resisted pressure and won't release report on Matt Gaetz
The Florida congressman is Donald Trump's nominee for attorney general in the next administration.
Florida Republican nominated for attorney general/ Andrew Caballero- Reynolds.
The House Ethics Committee will ultimately not release the report on Matt Gaetz. The Republican congressman from Florida is Donald Trump's pick to be attorney general starting in January 2025, and Congressional Democrats were pushing for the release of the findings from Gaetz's sexual misconduct investigation.
As Michael Guest (R-MS), chairman of the Ethics Committee, confirmed "there is no agreement by the committee to release the report."
According to information from The Hill, members met behind closed doors for more than two hours, during which multiple votes were taken. One even proposed releasing the report as it stood at the time.
"I will say that a vote was taken. As many of you know, this committee is evenly split between Democrats and Republicans (five Democrats and five Republicans), which means that in order to move something forward affirmatively, someone has to cross party lines and vote with the other side, which happens often, by the way, and we often vote unanimously," Susan Wild (D-PA), the ranking Democrat on the committee, later noted.
Wild also took aim at Guest, alleging that he "betrayed the process by revealing our deliberations moments after leaving the committee."
The investigation against Gaetz, now Trump's nominee to be attorney general, began in mid-2021 and is related to alleged sexual misconduct and illicit drug use.
Sean Casten's strategy for releasing the report
Rep. Sean Casten (D-IL) introduced a legislative resolution Wednesday that would force GOP leaders to bring the motion to the floor within two legislative days. Casten already led a letter signed by 97 Democrats for the Ethics Committee to release the information about Gaetz.
"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 the matter. This information should be made available to the Senate for advice and consent as required by the Constitution," the congressman said in a statement.
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