WASHINGTON — The Home shut down Democrats’ efforts Thursday to launch the long-awaited ethics report into former Rep. Matt Gaetz, pushing the destiny of any decision to the yearslong investigation of sexual misconduct allegations into additional uncertainty.
The practically party-line votes got here after Democrats had been urgent for the findings to be revealed though the Florida Republican left Congress and withdrew as President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for lawyer basic.
Republicans have argued that any congressional probe into Gaetz ended when he resigned from the Home. Speaker Mike Johnson additionally requested that the committee not publish its report, saying it will be a horrible precedent to set.
Whereas ethics reviews have beforehand been launched after a member’s resignation, this can be very uncommon.
Shortly earlier than the votes came about, Rep. Sean Casten, D-In poor health., who launched one of many payments to pressure the discharge, mentioned that if Republicans reject the discharge, they may have “succeeded in sweeping credible allegations of sexual misconduct under the rug.” Gaetz has repeatedly denied the claims.
Earlier Thursday, the Ethics panel met to debate the Gaetz report however made no resolution, saying in a brief assertion that the matter continues to be being mentioned. It’s unclear now whether or not the doc will ever see the sunshine of day as lawmakers solely have a number of weeks left earlier than a brand new session of Congress begins.
It’s the fruits of weeks of stress on the Ethics committee’s 5 Republicans and 5 Democrats who principally work in secret as they examine allegations of misconduct in opposition to lawmakers.
The standing of the Gaetz investigation turned an open query final month when he abruptly resigned from Congress after Trump’s announcement that he needed his ally within the Cupboard. It’s normal follow for the committee to finish investigations when members of Congress depart, however the circumstances surrounding Gaetz have been uncommon, given his potential function within the new administration.
Rep. Michael Visitor, R-Miss., the committee chairman, mentioned Wednesday that there isn’t any longer the identical urgency to launch the report on condition that Gaetz has left Congress and stepped apart as Trump’s alternative to move the Justice Division.
“I’ve been steadfast about that. He’s no longer a member. He is no longer going to be confirmed by the Senate because he withdrew his nomination to be the attorney general,” Visitor mentioned.
The Gaetz report has additionally prompted tensions between lawmakers on the bipartisan committee. Pennsylvania Rep. Susan Wild, the highest Democrat on the panel, publicly admonished Visitor final month for mischaracterizing a earlier assembly to the press.
Gaetz has denied any wrongdoing and mentioned final yr that the Justice Division’s separate investigation in opposition to him into intercourse trafficking allegations involving underage ladies ended with out federal prices.
His onetime political ally Joel Greenberg, a fellow Republican who served because the tax collector in Florida’s Seminole County, admitted as a part of a plea cope with prosecutors in 2021 that he paid ladies and an underage lady to have intercourse with him and different males. The lads weren’t recognized in court docket paperwork when he pleaded responsible. Greenberg was sentenced in late 2022 to 11 years in jail.