1 week Ago By Jenn Gidman
It on Thursday that the House Ethics Committee would release its report on the investigation into now-former Rep. Matt Gaetz, accused of drug use, bribery, and sexual misconduct with a minor. Nothing Friday has changed that narrative in the eyes of House Speaker Mike Johnson, per .
When asked by reporters if he thought the report should be made public, Johnson replied, "I do not," adding: "I think it's a terrible breach of protocol." Johnson went on to say that he planned to "strongly request" the ethics panel keep the report on Gaetz under wraps, before reaffirming he thought such a release would be a bad idea. "That is not the way we do things in the House," he said, noting that he planned to have a discussion with Ethics Chair Michael Guest.
"I think that would be a terrible precedent." reports that before Gaetz was nominated by President-elect Trump to be his next attorney general—prompting the former to suddenly resign from his congressional post—the Ethics Committee had planned to get together on Friday regarding the report. Guest now says that meeting has been postponed.
Johnson, however, notes that due to Gaetz's leaving Congress, the report is now moot—even if the public wants to know what's in it. "The rules of the House have always been that a former member is beyond the jurisdiction of the Ethics Committee, and so I don't think that's relevant," Johnson told reporters. notes that senators from both parties have said they'd like to see the report, and that "Johnson's comments are a notable pivot from his previous stance that he does not wade into Ethics matters.
" House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries hasn't made any explicit demands about the report—he notes he didn't want to "get out ahead" of Rep. Susan Wild, a ranking Democrat on the Ethics panel—but he said on Friday that "transparency is always the best course of action, particularly when it relates to high-ranking government officials." Jeffries added: "I think it was Justice Brandeis who once said that sunlight is the best disinfectant in a democracy.
" Gaetz, meanwhile, continues to deny any wrongdoing. (ABC reports that told the panel that she had sex with Gaetz.).
