Gaetz's Sexual Misconduct Report Release Blocked by House GOP [View all]
Source: Bloomberg
November 20, 2024 at 5:11 PM EST
Republicans on the House Ethics Committee voted Wednesday to keep confidential its findings on the sexual misconduct probe into Matt Gaetz, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for attorney general, the panel’s top Democrat said. The 10-member panel met behind closed doors for more than two hours, with all five GOP members voting to block the report’s release ahead of the Senate’s consideration of Gaetz’s nomination, Democrat Representative Susan Wild of Pennsylvania said after the deliberations. Democrats calling to disclose the findings needed at least one Republican to have crossed over, she said.
The Ethics Committee, which typically operates in private, faces mounting pressure to publicize its finding as scrutiny of Gaetz intensifies after Trump nominated him on Nov. 13 to lead the Justice Department. Ethics Chairman Michael Guest provided few details other than to say there was “no agreement to release the report.” Wild fired back after the meeting, saying Guest’s remarks incorrectly characterized the deliberations.
“I do not want the American public or anyone else to think,” she said, “that what transpired today would be some sort of indication that the committee had unity, or consensus on this issue.” House Democrats plan to force the issue, and will need at least a few Republicans to back them. Illinois Representative Sean Casten said he’ll file a privileged House resolution on Wednesday to force a vote that will require the committee to release its findings.
The privileged resolution gives Speaker Mike Johnson up to two legislative days to schedule floor action. A vote to table Casten’s resolution could precede a vote on the resolution itself. “This information must be made available for the Senate to provide its constitutionally required advice and consent,” Casten said in a statement.
Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-11-20/gaetz-s-sexual-misconduct-report-release-blocked-by-house-gop
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Original article/headline -
Nov. 20, 2024, 3:49 p.m. ET
The House Ethics Committee deadlocked on Wednesday on whether to release a report about sexual misconduct and illicit drug use allegations against former Representative Matt Gaetz, the Florida Republican who is President-elect Donald J. Trump's choice for attorney general, setting up a possible constitutional clash between the House and the Senate.
Senators in both parties have clamored to see the bipartisan conclusions of the panel's yearslong investigation into Mr. Gaetz's conduct as part of their vetting of presidential nominees, who normally require Senate confirmation.
But since Mr. Trump named Mr. Gaetz last week as his choice to head the Justice Department, House Republicans have been reluctant to make the report public. And following an hourslong meeting of the secretive ethics panel on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, Representative Michael Guest, the Mississippi Republican who chairs the committee, emerged to say only: "There was no agreement by the committee to release the report." He declined to comment further, as did other members of the panel, which includes five Republicans and five Democrats.
Speaker Mike Johnson pressured the committee last week not to release its findings on Mr. Gaetz, arguing that it would constitute a "terrible breach of protocol" to do so after a member had resigned, putting him beyond the panel's jurisdiction. He also privately urged Mr. Guest not to make the findings public.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/20/us/politics/matt-gaetz-house-ethics-report.html
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