House Blocks Democ­rats’ Push To Release Matt Gaetz Ethics Report

The House on Thurs­day reject­ed attempts by Democ­rats to pub­lish an ethics report inves­ti­gat­ing alle­ga­tions of sex­u­al mis­con­duct against for­mer Repub­li­can Rep. Matt Gaetz of Flori­da.

Fol­low­ing per­sis­tent demands by Democ­rats for the report’s release, many Repub­li­cans con­tend that the con­gres­sion­al inquiry into Gaetz should have con­clud­ed with his res­ig­na­tion, accord­ing to The Asso­ci­at­ed Press. House Speak­er Mike John­son also urged the com­mit­tee not to release its find­ings, argu­ing it would set a dam­ag­ing prece­dent.

The vote end­ed 206 to 198, with Repub­li­can Rep. Tom McClin­tock of Cal­i­for­nia as the lone mem­ber of the GOP to oppose the motion to send the report back to the Ethics Com­mit­tee, KSBY report­ed. The House Ethics Com­mit­tee had exam­ined accu­sa­tions against Gaetz involv­ing sex­u­al mis­con­duct, illic­it drug use, and improp­er gift accep­tance, all of which Gaetz has denied. The Depart­ment of Jus­tice declared last year that no charges would be filed against him.

WATCH: Rep. Matt Gaetz responds on Tuck­er Carl­son Tonight to alle­ga­tions of sex­u­al mis­con­duct:

He says a for­mer DOJ offi­cial named David McGee is try­ing to extort is fam­i­ly for mon­ey

He says that the FBI and DOJ have audio record­ings that will prove his inno­cence. pic.twitter.com/J95AEFtxsr

— Dai­ly Caller (@DailyCaller) March 31, 2021

Although it is high­ly unusu­al, there have been instances where ethics reports were dis­closed fol­low­ing a member’s res­ig­na­tion. The House Ethics Com­mit­tee in Novem­ber chose not to pub­lish its inves­ti­ga­tion into Gaetz. (RELATED: Vic­tor Davis Han­son Explains Why He Thinks Matt Gaetz Could Be Trump’s ‘Sac­ri­fi­cial Lamb’ Pick)

“There was not an agree­ment by the com­mit­tee to release the report,” said Repub­li­can Rep. Michael Guest of Mis­sis­sip­pi.

Gaetz’s announced his depar­ture from Con­gress fol­low­ing Pres­i­dent-elect Don­ald Trump pick­ing him for attor­ney gen­er­al. Gaetz sub­se­quent­ly with­drew his name from con­sid­er­a­tion as attor­ney gen­er­al, stat­ing his con­fir­ma­tion process was becom­ing an unfair dis­trac­tion to Trump’s tran­si­tion efforts.

Trump lat­er named for­mer Flori­da Attor­ney Gen­er­al Pam Bon­di as his choice for U.S. attor­ney gen­er­al. Trump com­mend­ed Bondi’s efforts in com­bat­ing drug traf­fick­ing in his announce­ment on Truth Social.

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