House panel set to release report on Gaetz sexual abuse allegations | Matt Gaetz

The US House Ethics Committee has reportedly voted to release a report on sexual assault allegations against Matt Gaetz, the former Republican representative who was forced to drop his bid to become Donald Trump’s attorney general due to the fallout over the allegations.

According to CNNthe House Ethics Committee voted earlier this month to release the report, which is expected to be released after the chamber’s final votes for the year later this week.

The news comes a month after the committee was deadlocked over whether to release the report as members fell along party lines in the private vote. The latest decision now suggests that at least one Republican member of the panel has joined Democrats in supporting the disclosure.

Gaetz is accused of engaging in a sexual relationship with an underage girl who reportedly told the ethics committee she had two sexual encounters with him at a party in 2017. Gaetz has consistently denied the allegations, and the Justice Department declined to charge him last year as part of a sex-trafficking investigation.

The committee’s decision to release its report is notable since Gaetz is no longer a member of Parliament or a Cabinet nominee. Gaetz, a hard-right representative from Florida known for making enemies on both sides of the aisle, withdrew from consideration to be Trump’s attorney general last month.

“There is no time to waste on an unnecessarily protracted Washington battle, and so I will withdraw my name from consideration to serve as attorney general. Trump’s (Justice Department) must be in place and ready on day one,” Gaetz said then.

“I remain fully committed to seeing that Donald J Trump is the most successful president in history. I will forever be honored that President Trump nominated me to lead the Department of Justice, and I am sure he will save America.”

The pro-Trump broadcaster One America News Network (OANN) announced last week that Gaetz would host a nightly political talk show in a primetime slot starting next month.