House ethics committee voted in secret to release Matt Gaetz ethics report, source says

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House Ethics Committee voted in secret to release the long-awaited ethics report to ex-rep. Matt Gaetzraising the possibility that the allegations against the Florida Republican, who was President-elect Donald Trump’s first choice for attorney general, could be made public in the coming days.

The decision by the bipartisan committee was made earlier this month, according to a person familiar with the vote, who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity Wednesday. CNN first reported the vote.

It’s a stunning turnaround for the often secretive panel of five Republicans and five Democrats. Just last month, members voted along party lines not to release the results of their nearly four-year investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct with minors and the use of illegal drugs while Gaetz was in office.

Democrats had pushed to release the report, even though Gaetz no longer was in Congress and had withdrawn as Trump’s choice to lead the Ministry of Justice. A vote in Parliament this month to force the report’s release failed; all but one Republican voted against.

Gaetz took to social media on Wednesday to lash out at the latest development, again denying any wrongdoing. He criticized the committee for its actions after he left Congress, saying he would have “no opportunity to debate or rebut as a former member of the body.”

“It’s embarrassing but not criminal that I probably partied, womanized, drank and smoked more than I should have earlier in life,” Gaetz wrote on X, the website formerly known as Twitter. “I live a different life now.”

Most Republicans have argued that any congressional investigation of Gaetz ended when he resigned from the House. Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., also requested that the committee not release its report, saying it would set a terrible precedent.

While ethics reports have been released in the past after a member’s resignation, this is extremely rare.

Gaetz has defended the allegations against him, noting that a separate Justice Department investigation into sex-trafficking allegations involving underage girls ended last year without federal charges.

One-time political ally Joel Greenberga Republican who served as a tax collector in Florida’s Seminole County, recorded as part of a plea agreement with prosecutors in 2021 that he paid women and an underage girl to have sex with him and other men. The men were not identified in court documents when he pleaded guilty. Greenberg was convicted at the end of 2022 to 11 years in prison.