House Ethics Committee Matt Gaetz report is released

The House Ethics Committee has decided to release its report on former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla.

MPs on the secret panel voted to publish the report after this year’s final votes – scheduled for Thursday.

The House Ethics Committee’s multiyear investigation into Gaetz, which included allegations of sex with a minor and illegal drug use, was abruptly closed last month after it was withdrawn hours after President-elect Trump named him his attorney general Congress resigned.

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Former Rep. Matt Gaetz resigned from Congress last month. (Aaron Schwartz/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Gaetz retired, calm but calm GOP oppositionbut the committee still lost jurisdiction over the investigation when Gaetz left the House.

Gaetz has consistently denied all allegations of wrongdoing, and a previous federal investigation into the allegations ended with no charges against him.

His resignation came shortly before the committee was due to meet to consider publishing the report.

That meeting, delayed for several days, ended in dramatic fashion after House Ethics Committee Chairman Michael Guest, R-Miss., told reporters that no agreement had been reached on releasing the report.

That prompted Rep. Susan Wild, D-Pa., the top Democrat on the committee, to return after leaving the chamber without comment to criticize her Republican colleague.

Wild said Guest “betrayed the process by revealing our deliberations just moments after leaving the committee, and he implied that there was an agreement by the committee not to disclose the report.”

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Rep. Susan Wild is the top Democrat on the House Ethics Committee. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

She said that conclusion was “untrue.”

“I would say that a vote has taken place. As many of you know, this committee is made up of an equal number of Democrats and Republicans, five Democrats and five Republicans, which means that in order to advance something in a positive way, someone has to cross party lines and vote with the other side – which happens a lot, by the way , and we often don’t vote unanimously in today’s vote,” Wild said.

The recent decision to release the report suggests that at least one Republican lawmaker crossed the aisle and voted with Democrats.

It is rare – but not unheard of – for the House Ethics Committee to release a report on a lawmaker after the person has left Congress.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., told reporters last month he opposed making the Gaetz ethics report public, arguing: “It doesn’t conform to our rules and traditions, and there’s a reason for that.” That would reveal “Pandora’s Box” and I don’t think that’s a healthy thing for the institution, so that’s my position.”

President-elect Trump appointed Gaetz as attorney general. (AP/Evan Vucci)

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Gaetz himself released a lengthy statement on X in response to the House Ethics Committee’s decision.

“I have not been charged with anything: COMPLETELY DISCLAIMED. Not even for a campaign finance violation. And the people who were investigating me hated me. Then the very ‘witnesses’ that the DOJ deemed unreliable were assembled by the House Ethics Committee to repeat their claims without contradiction. “I never had the opportunity to face or challenge an accuser,” Gaetz said.

“Instead, House Ethics will reportedly post a report online that, as a former member of the panel, I cannot discuss or refute.”

He then said of the allegations: “When I was single, I often sent money to women I dated – even some I never dated but who asked for it. I dated several of these women for years. I have NEVER had sexual contact with anyone under the age of 18. “Any claim I have would be destroyed in court – which is why such a claim has never been made in court.”

“My 30s were a time when I worked very hard – and played hard too. It’s embarrassing, although not criminal, that I probably partied, womanized, drank and smoked more than I should have earlier in life. “I live a different life now,” said Gaetz.