Washington This week, a floor vote is being forced by Rep. Sean Casten, D-Ill., to mandate that the House Ethics Committee publish a report on its multi-year investigation of former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla.
A resolution that would compel the bipartisan ethics panel to take action was introduced by Casten on Tuesday. The resolution must be presented to the floor for a vote within two legislative days due to its privileged status.
On November 13, President-elect Donald Trump appointed his close associate Gaetz as his attorney general. That day, Gaetz also resigned from Congress.
However, a little over a week later, Gaetzwith pulled out of consideration due to resistance from Republican senators, primarily because of the ethics investigation into claims of sexual misconduct and illegal drug usage.
Gaetz has consistently denied committing any wrongdoing or breaking any laws.
The Ethics Committee, which was made up of five Republicans and five Democrats, had discussed the findings behind closed doors and ultimately stalled along party lines before Gaetz bowed out. However, Gaetz’s withdrawal should put a stop to the debate over whether the Ethics Committee should pursue this issue further, according to Ethics Committee Chairman Michael Guest, R-Miss.
Whether the panel should publish a report on a former member of Congress is up for debate. Although the committee only has authority over current members of Congress, it has published a report on a former politician months after his resignation from Congress decades ago.
Then-Rep. Bill Boner, D-Tenn., resigned on October 5, 1987, to take a position as mayor of Nashville. The following December, the Ethics Committee issued a preliminary staff report that looked into claims that Boner took bribes, misappropriated campaign funds, and concealed gifts.
The week before Thanksgiving, Casten proposed a similar resolution, but it was withdrawn when the House went into recess. Four examples of previous cases where the Ethics Committee published reports after members departed office have been included to the updated version.
Casten said in a statement on Tuesday that the Committee on Ethics has frequently made its reports on former members public. Members of Congress shouldn’t be able to escape responsibility for accusations as grave as Matt Gaetz’s by resigning. The integrity and dignity of the House’s legislative process would be compromised if this report were not made public.
Following his withdrawal of his name as attorney general, there has been conjecture, some of which Gaetz himself has stoked, that he would run for governor of Florida in 2026 or take a post in the Trump White House that would not need Senate confirmation.
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