Ethics Committee Declines To Release Report On Probe Into Attorney General Pick Matt Gaetz

The House Ethics Committee deadlocked Wednesday over whether to release details of its investigation of attorney general nominee Matt Gaetz for sexual misconduct and drug use, the panel’s top Democrat said.
Rep. Susan Wild (D-Penn.) told reporters the evenly split committee ― a rarity in Congress ― saw members vote along party lines on whether to release the report, denying the majority needed for the report’s disclosure.
“There was not an agreement by the committee to release the report,” Rep. Michael Guest (R-Miss.), chairman of the panel, said as he left the committee meeting, which lasted for several hours.
Wild said she did not want Guest’s remarks to be taken to mean there was consensus decision not to release the report.
“I do not want the American public or anyone else to think that Mr. Guests’ characterization of what transpired today would be some sort of indication that the committee had unanimity or consensus on this issue,” Wild said.
The development leaves in limbo the fate of the probe’s potential findings as the Senate faces the prospect of having to vote to install as the nation’s top cop a man once accused of sex trafficking. Gaetz, a former Florida congressman, has denied the charges, and a federal criminal investigation into his activities was closed with no charges being filed.
Gaetz resigned from the House soon after being named, a move that reportedly came days before the committee was set to release its report on him. Because the House Ethics Committee only has jurisdiction over House members, the resignation ordinarily would have ended the probe without any further action.
But with Gaetz being nominated to head the Department of Justice, some argue that the usual past practice of closing the investigation without a public report should be ignored.
President-elect Donald Trump’s pick of Gaetz is one of several selections that have caused some unease among Republicans. In addition to Gaetz, Trump chose Fox News weekend television host Pete Hegseth to be his secretary of defense and former congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard to be his national security adviser.
But Gaetz’s nomination appears to be the most troubled of the picks so far. In a June statement, the committee said “certain of the allegations” merited further review, and Gaetz was being looked at due to allegations of sexual misconduct, illicit drug use, accepting improper gifts and seeking to obstruct the government’s investigations of him.
So far, Trump has stood by Gaetz, even as many Republicans were shocked by the choice. On Wednesday, Gaetz returned to Capitol Hill to meet with some of the senators who would be deciding his nomination’s fate.
Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee, which would be the first to consider Gaetz, asked the Justice Department Wednesday to hand over its documents relating to the investigation that led to no charges being filed. Democrats have a majority on the committee until early January.
“The grave public allegations against Mr. Gaetz speak directly to his fitness to serve as the chief law enforcement officer for the federal government. The unanswered questions regarding Mr. Gaetz’s alleged conduct are particularly significant given that his associate, Joel Greenberg, pleaded guilty to the sex trafficking charge for which Mr. Gaetz was also investigated,” the Democratic senators, led by Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), wrote.
In the House, the deadlock at Ethics prompted not one but two attempts by Democrats to force a floor vote on whether to release the report.
Rep. Sean Casten (D-Ill.) and Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) both notified the House they would introduce privileged resolutions to require the ethics panel to release its findings. Privileged resolutions are often used to try to get a quick House floor vote on an issue dealing with the standards of the House, such as censures or expulsions.
But given the congressional calendar, a vote on either resolution could be delayed into December, when public pressure may have lessened.
“Our hope is that the Ethics Committee releases the report before then so we don’t have to deal with this,” Casten told reporters. But he did not sound optimistic that would happen.
“Every Republican in that House just endorsed someone for president who is an adjudicated rapist. The fact that we have to ask whether Republicans will support making public allegations of sexual impropriety by someone who is trying to be the highest law enforcement officer in the country speaks volumes of the Republican Party,” he said.
While those who worked side by side with Gaetz expressed the most wonderment he had been named to head the nation’s federal law enforcement establishment, a new Economist/YouGov poll out Wednesday found public opinion evenly split.
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The poll said 37% of respondents approved of Gaetz’s nomination, while 39% disapproved and 24% weren’t sure.