Florida Representative Matt Gaetz conveniently resigned from Congress just two days before the House Ethics Committee planned to vote on releasing a report into his alleged misconduct. That report may have contained some damning testimony about the Republican lawmaker, according to ABC News, but it’s unclear if it will ever see the light of day, now that President-elect Donald Trump has tapped Gaetz to serve as his attorney general.
Since 2021, the House Ethics Committee has investigated a laundry list of allegations about Gaetz, including claims that he used illegal drugs, had sex with a 17-year-old girl, accepted improper gifts and dispensed inappropriate personal privileges and favors. Gaetz has fiercely denied those allegations and described one of his primary accusers, a former friend named Joel Greenburg, as a “felonious liar.”
But the young woman at the center of the committee’s investigation also testified that she had sex with Gaetz when she was an underage high school student, ABC News reported Thursday. And the committee interviewed “at least half a dozen women” who said they’d been paid to attend sex- and drug-fueled parties that Gaetz also attended. One woman further testified to the committee that a Venmo payment she received from Gaetz was for sex. Notably, federal prosecutors also investigated the underage sex allegations as part of a separate inquiry—and never brought any charges. Gaetz could soon end up heading that department.
But before green-lighting Gaetz’s nomination to lead the Justice Department, lawmakers from both parties are demanding that the House Ethics Committee release its full report. There’s some uncertainty as to whether the panel could do so: Its chairman, Representative Michael Guest, a Mississippi Republican, said his committee lost “jurisdiction” when Gaetz resigned from the House to accept Trump’s attorney general nomination. But the timing of that resignation has struck other lawmakers as suspicious, including Senator Dick Durbin, the Illinois Democrat who chairs the committee tasked with overseeing the AG’s confirmation. “The sequence and timing of Mr. Gaetz’s resignation from the House raises serious questions about the contents of the House Ethics Committee report,” Durbin said in a statement. “We cannot allow this valuable information from a bipartisan investigation to be hidden.” Senator Jon Cornyn, a Texas Republican, suggested the Senate Judiciary Committee could subpoena the report if the House refuses to share it.
Some Republican lawmakers have also reportedly speculated that Trump nominated Gaetz solely to scuttle the release of the report. It wouldn’t be the first time the now-former congressman has turned to Trump for help with his legal dealings: In the final weeks of Trump’s first term, he also allegedly requested an unusual, preemptive pardon to shield him from future sex-trafficking charges.
