Ethics Committee secretly voted to release Gaetz report

The House Ethics Committee has taken the rare and controversial step of voting to release its investigative report into former Rep. Matt Gaetz, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The private vote earlier this month means at least one Republican on the panel, which has membership that is evenly split between both parties, sided with Democrats to release the report. It could soon lead to the report’s release to the public.

Calls to release the report — which details an investigation into several allegations against Gaetz, including that he had a sex with a minor — mostly faded after the former lawmaker withdrew as President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for attorney general. Democrats still widely demanded that the Ethics Committee release the report, but Hill Republicans speculated that the report’s findings would die along with Gaetz’s nomination.

Gaetz has denied all the allegations. In a post on X after the news broke, he argued: “It’s embarrassing, though not criminal, that I probably partied, womanized, drank and smoked more than I should have earlier in life. I live a different life now."

CNN first reported the vote to release the report. The panel’s spokesperson declined to comment.

The panel had voted on the report before but hadn’t approved a release. Some Republicans privately argued the report was still in draft form and that the panel had to go through the necessary internal steps to formally wrap it up. But Democrats argued otherwise, claiming that it was finished.

While Gaetz has plenty of Republican enemies from his time in the House, there was strong GOP pushback over releasing the report. Speaker Mike Johnson had argued it shouldn’t see the light of day, and Ethics Chair Michael Guest (R-Miss.) said after Gaetz withdrew from attorney general consideration that it shouldn’t come out.

The report’s pending release marks the end of an Ethics inquiry that has consumed the Hill and even played a role in the ousting of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, as some suspected that Gaetz forced the vote to oust the Californian due to his belief that McCarthy greenlit the Ethics investigation. The two men had an outwardly frosty, if not downright hostile, relationship for years.

And it could also have an impact on Gaetz’s future endeavors. Republicans largely believe he could launch a potential gubernatorial bid in Florida. In the meantime, he is leaning into his new role at One America News Network.

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