WASHINGTON — The top Democrat on the House Ethics Committee said Monday that the panel’s report into GOP former Rep. Matt Gaetz, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for attorney general, should be made public.
The bipartisan Ethics Committee had been investigating Gaetz, of Florida, off and on since 2021, probing allegations of sexual misconduct involving a 17-year-old girl, illicit drug use and accepting improper gifts. But the committee lost jurisdiction over Gaetz when he resigned from the House on Thursday and has not released any public report on its probe.
Rep. Susan Wild, D-Pa., the ranking member on the Ethics Committee, said the report should be released, a sentiment echoed by another Ethics member, Rep. Glenn Ivey, D-Md.
“It absolutely should be released to the public. And, well, it should certainly be released to the Senate, and I think it should be released to the public, as we have done with many other investigative reports in the past,” Wild told reporters, adding: “There is precedent for releasing even after a member has resigned.”
The House Ethics Committee plans to meet Wednesday to discuss the report, a source familiar with the meeting confirmed to NBC News earlier Monday.
The details of the report have not been made public. Several Republican senators, who will consider Gaetz’s nomination once it is formalized next year, have said they want details of the ethics investigation — whether through access to the report itself or through an FBI background check on Gaetz.
On Friday, an attorney said that his client testified privately before the Ethics Committee that she personally witnessed Gaetz have sex with a minor. Gaetz, 42, has denied all allegations.
Wild said she was “waiting to see what … the other members of the committee are going to do, before taking any further action.”
The House Ethics panel had been scheduled to discuss the report at its regular Friday meeting but it was postponed after Gaetz resigned. CNN first reported that the committee will now meet Wednesday. A spokesman for the Ethics panel declined to comment.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is opposed to the release of the Gaetz report, telling reporters Friday he would “strongly request” that the panel not make it public due to the fact that Gaetz is now a former member of Congress and the Ethics panel only has jurisdiction over sitting members.
However, there is precedent for releasing ethics reports after or on the same day a lawmaker resigns from Congress. Two months after former Rep. Bill Boner, D-Tenn., resigned in 1987, the Ethics panel released an initial staff report detailing its investigation. And on the day former Rep. Buz Lukens, R-Ohio, resigned from the House in 1990, the committee released its report into him.
Speaking to reporters Monday night, Johnson defended his earlier remarks, clarifying that he has not told Ethics Chairman Michael Guest, R-Miss., or the committee what to do.
“I have not dictated anything to the Ethics Committee. It is not my place to do so; I’ve been very clear,” Johnson said when asked by NBC News. “I’m merely responding to the questions that every single media outlet in America is asking me: Do I think a report, if it exists, should be released? And the answer is no because we have a rule on that.”
Guest appeared to corroborate Johnson’s story on Monday, explaining that the speaker contacted him to let him know he’d told the press he did not think the report should be released. But, Guest said, “Mike has not tried to weigh in one way or the other. He has not tried to influence the committee. He was only reaching out to me out of courtesy because he had made a comment to the press.”
Guest confirmed that he has read the Gaetz report and said that other members have had access to view it, but he would not discuss any details of the document or whether the committee will vote Wednesday to release it.
Told Monday that Ivey, the Maryland Democrat, had called Johnson’s remarks about the Gaetz report inappropriate, the speaker replied: “Glenn Ivey has his opinion.”
A day earlier, on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Johnson said that he has “not discussed one word about the ethics report,” with Trump, despite spending time with the president-elect in recent days in Washington, at Mar-a-Lago and at a UFC event at Madison Square Garden.
A number of Republican senators, including some who will have an opportunity to question Gaetz at a Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing, have said they want to see the House report.
Appearing on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday, Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., said senators should “absolutely” have access to the House report.
“I believe the Senate should have access to that now. … That should be definitely part of our decision-making,” said Mullin, who served with Gaetz in the House and has been publicly critical of the Florida Republican’s character.
“Once again, I go back to Article Two, Section Two in the Constitution. The Senate has to advise and consent these individuals,” the senator added. “In that process, we’re going to give Matt Gaetz the same chances we’ll give all President Trump’s nominees.”
