When Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz was first nominated by President-elect Donalt Trump to be the next attorney general, every Democrat and a large number of Republicans were against the nomination due to a U.S. House Ethics Committee investigation against Gaetz for the last three years. The investigation was due to many allegations against Gaetz, including that he slept with a minor, paid multiple women and girls for sex, accepted bribes, misused campaign funds, and shared inappropriate images on the House Floor.
Gaetz, for his part, has denied the claims, saying that “lies were weaponized to try to destroy me.”
Pennsylvania District 1’s Republican Representative Brian Fitzapatrick voted last week in favor of blocking the release of the report. Predictably, he has not given a public statement explaining his vote, even though Fitzpatrick had previously and publicly tried to separate himself from Gaetz, including giving away money that Gaetz sent to his campaign in 2021, and attacking the Florida Republican for his role in ousting former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy last year.
LETTER: Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick’s Reckless Vote on H.R. 9495
Republicans have claimed that since Gaetz resigned from his House seat after being nominated for AG, and is no longer a sitting member of Congress, there is no reason to release the report.
“The rules of the House have always been that a former member is beyond the jurisdiction of the Ethics Committee,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson. However, due to the fact Gaetz stepped down from Congress to take a high position in the federal government and only decided to not accept because it became clear he would not get enough votes from the Senate for confirmation, the argument by House Republicans is at best very flawed.
The first resolution, written by Democratic Illinois Congressman Sean Casten, would have forced the committee to release the ethics report to the public. In a 206-198 vote, House Republicans voted in favor of keeping the report in committee. The second resolution, by Tennessee congress member Steve Cohen, would have forced the committee to preserve and release their findings about Gaetz. Again, Republicans voted to send the Resolution to Committee, 204-198. The only Republican to vote against keeping the resolutions in Committee was California Congressman Tom McClintock, who voted no for both.
Axios reports that Nebraska Republican Congressman Don Bacon said if Trump taps Gaetz for a White House job (not needing Senate confirmation) that there very well could be another vote to release the Ethics Committee report.
