House votes against releasing Matt Gaetz ethics report for now [View all]

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Source: NBC News

Dec. 5, 2024, 1:00 PM EST / Updated Dec. 5, 2024, 6:15 PM EST


WASHINGTON — House lawmakers voted Thursday against releasing an Ethics Committee report on an exhaustive, yearslong investigation into former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., a close ally and confidant of President-elect Donald Trump.

Democrats had forced the votes and Republicans responded by voting to return the matter to the Ethics Committee, ending the fight over the report’s release for now. Whether the report ever becomes public remains unknown.

The votes came shortly after the bipartisan Ethics panel met privately — for a second time in as many months — about whether to make public the report on allegations that Gaetz engaged in illicit drug use and sexual misconduct with a 17-year-old girl, obstructed the House probe and other claims.

But after two-and-a-half hours, the panel did not release the report, saying in a statement that it is "continuing to discuss the matter." Ethics Chairman Michael Guest, R-Miss., told reporters that his panel would meet again before the end of the year. "I'm not going to speculate on future action that the committee may take," Guest said when asked whether it might still vote to release the report.

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/house-expected-vote-whether-release-matt-gaetz-ethics-report-rcna182952

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Article updated.

Original article/headline -

House expected to vote on whether to release Matt Gaetz ethics report

Dec. 5, 2024, 1:00 PM EST / Updated Dec. 5, 2024, 5:10 PM EST


WASHINGTON — House lawmakers are expected to vote Thursday whether to compel the Ethics Committee to release its report on an exhaustive, yearslong investigation into former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla.

The bipartisan Ethics panel met privately — for a second time — Thursday to discuss whether to make public the report concerning allegations that Gaetz engaged in illicit drug use and sexual misconduct with a 17-year-old girl, obstructed the House probe and other claims. But the panel did not appear to have come to a decision, saying it a statement after the meeting that it is "continuing to discuss the matter."

Gaetz has denied the allegations, which contributed to some Senate Republicans saying behind closed doors that they would not vote to confirm him as President-elect Donald Trump's attorney general.

Before Thanksgiving, on Nov. 20, the 10-member panel deadlocked over publishing the report into Gaetz, whom Trump announced as his pick for attorney general on Nov. 13, the same day Gaetz resigned from Congress. But Gaetz dropped his bid to run the Justice Department on Nov. 21— a move Ethics Chairman Michael Guest, R-Miss., said “should end the discussion” about releasing the report.