The House Ethics Committee reportedly voted to release its report on former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), reversing a previous decision to keep the document sealed.
The committee approved the release of the report in a secret vote earlier this month, according to a CNN report. It details the findings of a years-long investigation into sexual misconduct and misuse of funds. Gaetz has repeatedly denied the allegations.
The vote, which has not previously been reported, amounts to a stark reversal for the panel after it had voted along party lines in late November not to release the results of the investigation. The decision to release the report suggests that some Republicans ultimately decided to side with Democrats on the matter, and it is unclear if the committee will once again change course now that it has voted.
When the committee voted last month to shelve the report, Gaetz was President-elect Donald Trump’s choice to be attorney general. Since then, Gaetz withdrew himself from consideration for the Senate-confirmed post, though he maintains frosty relations with many in his party and is still active in GOP politics.
It is exceedingly rare for an ethics report to be released after a member has left Congress, though it has happened on a couple of occasions in the past. The committee revisited the issue behind closed doors earlier this month after a feud over the report spilled into public view before Thanksgiving.
The Ethics Committee’s report concludes a years-long probe into numerous allegations against Gaetz, including whether he engaged in sexual misconduct, used illicit drugs, “shared inappropriate images or videos on the House floor, misused state identification records, converted campaign funds to personal use, and/or accepted a bribe, improper gratuity, or impermissible gifts,” according to an announcement by the panel last summer.
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The committee started its investigation in April 2021. The Justice Department later picked up the case. Shortly after the DOJ’s investigation ended with no charges brought against the former lawmaker, the committee renewed its work, The Associated Press reported.
Gaetz’s legal issues became a part of national discussion after President-elect Donald Trump announced his intention to nominate him for attorney general. Gaetz resigned from Congress soon after, which prompted debate over whether the report should be released.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), along with others, argued that the report should remain sealed since Gaetz was no longer a member of Congress. Others suggested that the committee’s findings are still a matter of public interest even though Gaetz has since removed himself from the nomination.
Gaetz has been under scrutiny for alleged sexual misconduct, but part of the investigation also centered on his ties to former Florida politician Joel Greenberg and Gaetz’s conduct during a trip to the Bahamas, according to The Associated Press.
“Federal investigators scrutinized a trip that Gaetz took to the Bahamas with a group of women and a doctor who donated to his campaign, and whether the women were paid or received gifts to have sex with the men.”
Greenberg confessed to paying women and an underage girl for sex as part of a 2021 plea deal. Investigators also looked into whether Gaetz had attempted to help these women obtain jobs in the government. The former lawmaker has characterized the investigation as a “frivolous” smear campaign motivated by politics.
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