House Ethics Committee Deadlocks on Gaetz Report

There’s one little victory regarding the nomination of Matt Gaetz as attorney general: House Ethics won’t release the report on his alleged misdeeds, which the former Florida Republican congressman has denied—some of the allegations involved trysts with women who weren’t 18 years of age. House Speaker Mike Johnson urged members not to release the report. Today, that body obliged. With Gaetz resigning from Congress shortly after his AG nomination, the inquiry into his activities ceased (via Axios): 

The House Ethics Committee will not release its report on former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) after Republicans on the panel voted against making the findings public. 

Why it matters: Gaetz is President-elect Trump's nominee to run the Justice Department as attorney general. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) publicly opposed the report's release, arguing it would break precedent because Gaetz has resigned from Congress. 

"There was not an agreement by the committee to release the report," Ethics Chair Michael Guest (R-Miss.) told reporters leaving Wednesday's meeting. 

The 10-member panel, which is evenly split between Republicans and Democrats — voted along party lines, according to person familiar with the matter, falling short of the majority vote needed to compel the report's release.

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