Republicans on the ethics panel vote to block the Gaetz report

CNN
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Republicans on the House Ethics Committee fell in line behind GOP leaders and voted not to release the results of their investigation into Donald Trump’s attorney general pick, Matt Gaetz, despite growing calls from the Senate GOP to release the findings ahead of his confirmation hearing.

The GOP’s decision to block the results — against the will of Democrats on the panel — raises big questions about what happens to the top-secret information the ethics panel has already collected about Gaetz.

The committee voted to meet again in December, when Republicans on the panel hope to have a final report, according to two people familiar with the discussions. But until then, pressure is mounting across the Capitol to release the contents of the report as Gaetz makes his case directly to GOP senators who will decide his future as attorney general. And with just weeks left in the current Congress, Democrats must now plan their next move.

Some Democrats are trying to create their own pressure point: Democratic Representative Sean Casten, who is close to House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, announced Wednesday that he would offer a privileged resolution to try to release the report. Before he could, another Democrat, Representative Steve Cohen, made a similar effort to pry the report loose through a floor vote.

Any member of Parliament can table a privileged motion to compel the ethics report to be released, saying it is relevant to Parliament’s “dignity and integrity” – giving the measure special powers to be considered. But it still has to pass strict procedural rules to reach the floor.

It’s unclear whether Cohen — who formally declared his plans on the floor Wednesday — has drafted a measure that would meet those procedural standards. But if it does, Speaker Mike Johnson will be forced to bring it to the floor within two legislative days. Privately, however, Democrats believe the GOP will block the measure from actually receiving a vote.

In the meantime, the ethics committee will continue to work on its report, as the panel’s chairman, Rep. Michael Guest, has said is not complete. The report’s status was a major point of discussion at the panel’s two-hour meeting. While the investigation is complete, lawmakers from both parties have sparred over whether it is technically complete.

Rep. Susan Wild, the top Democrat on the committee, stressed that her party did not agree with the Republicans’ decision not to release the report.