House Ethics Committee keeps Gaetz report under wraps

House Ethics Committee members leaving a closed door meeting on Wednesday declined to comment on whether they would release its report on former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla. But some members are already pushing for it to be made public through other means.

“There was no agreement,” the committee chairman, Michael Guest, R-Miss., told reporters when asked whether the committee had reached a decision about releasing the report.

Democrats on the committee were equally tight-lipped.

“I can’t discuss,” Rep. Glenn Ivey, D-Md., said repeatedly as he left the meeting.

The report, the culmination of almost two years of investigation, allegedly contains highly damaging information related to sexual misconduct among other instances of illicit behavior.

Gaetz, who was tapped to serve as attorney general in the Trump administration, resigned immediately after receiving the nomination last Wednesday. Under the House Ethics Committee’s precedent, the body doesn’t have jurisdiction over non-members of Congress.

Guest has said that out of deference to that policy, the committee will not make the report public. While it is ultimately up to the committee to make its own decisions about the report, U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has also supported its confidentiality.

What are the allegations surrounding Gaetz? In 2021, the U.S. Department of Justice launched an investigation into Joel Greenberg, a Florida tax official and political associate of Gaetz. Greenberg eventually pleaded guilty to charges of sexually trafficking a minor, falsifying identification, aggravated identity theft, wire fraud, and stalking among other offenses. Greenburg received a sentence of 11 years behind bars.

After consideration, the DOJ decided not to pursue charges against Gaetz. But concerns about his ties to Greenburg eventually prompted an investigation by the House Ethics Committee which was launched after the conclusion of the DOJ’s probe in 2023.

Gaetz has denied any wrongdoing.

Does that mean the report’s contents are going to stay buried in committee? While the decision to make the report public likely won’t come from the House Ethics Committee, there’s a chance a lawmaker in the House could force a floor vote on the matter.

Rep. Sean Casten, D-Ill., announced plans on Wednesday to introduce a privileged resolution that could force the committee to release its report. A privileged motion, once introduced, would give the Speaker two legislative days to bring the matter to a vote.

The day before Casten published a letter urging the committee to release its findings.

The House adjourns on Thursday for its Thanksgiving recess, so such a motion would likely be considered only after Thanksgiving week—unless Speaker Johnson decides to bring it to the floor on Friday.

On the other side of the Capitol, the Senate may still subpoena the document as a part of its confirmation hearing on Gaetz’s appointment hearings. If for some reason that doesn’t work, the Senate can still summon the witnesses who contributed to the report for testimony.

Dig deeper: Gaetz is a highly controversial figure on Capitol Hill and his nomination was always going to make noise. Trump’s pick for attorney general is his first big test of loyalty for the newly-minted Senate majority—and its leader.