Republican Chairman Mike Johnson said Friday he does not want the House Ethics Committee to release its report on Matt Gaetz.
Following Donald Trump’s nomination of Gaetz as attorney general on Wednesday, there have been increasing calls from both Republicans and Democrats to release the report detailing his alleged sexual misconduct and drug abuse.
This would violate the Ethics Commission’s standards, as Gaetz resigned from his position in Congress immediately after his appointment, meaning the commission no longer has jurisdiction over the former Florida Republican.
But supporters of the report’s release say its contents are relevant to whether or not Gaetz is confirmed by the Senate, and therefore it should be released.
Speaker Johnson backtracked that Friday, saying he wants the Ethics Commission to refrain from publishing the potentially damaging dossier.
“I’m going to urge the Ethics Committee not to release the report because that’s not the way we do things in the House of Representatives and I think that would be a terrible precedent,” Johnson said as he delivered his left the office.
The Ethics Panel was due to meet on Friday to decide whether to make the report public.
However, that meeting was scuttled after Gaetz’s sudden resignation.
Speaker Mike Johnson said he doesn’t want the Ethics Commission to release its files on former Rep. Matt Gaetz
Gaetz was photographed at Mar-a-Lago on Thursday evening
Donald Trump nominated Gaetz as attorney general this week
His departure comes after allegations resurfaced Thursday about a woman who allegedly testified before the committee that Gaetz had sex with her when she was 17.
The woman – now in her 20s – said Gaetz and her had sex when she was a minor in high school, while “representing herself as an adult,” sources close to ABC News told ABC News.
The FBI had investigated similar claims against Gaetz, but the DOJ chose not to charge him over claims that he sex trafficked a minor.
Trump’s choice of the embattled former congressman to oversee the Justice Department, FBI, DEA, ATF and related agencies has shocked Republicans and Democrats.
And the bomb claims could derail his hopes of taking over as attorney general.
Reports already indicate that Senate Republicans are not in favor of Gaetz becoming AG.
According to the Wall Street Journal, sources say Gaetz already has at least 30 Republicans planning to vote against his nomination.
“The president’s role is to make the nomination, but we must fully vet the nominees, not only so we know the nominee is qualified, but also to protect the president,” said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas. Thursday.
He “absolutely” wants to review the House of Representatives Ethics Committee report on Gaetz’s conduct.
Cornyn even floated the idea of taking legal action to review the contents of the report.
“There are different ways we can access it, we can subpoena it,” he told reporters. “I don’t think any of us want to fly blind.”
Speaker of the House of Representatives Mike Johnson (R-LA) speaks at a press conference following the elections for leadership positions within the House Republican Caucus in Washington, DC on November 13, 2024
Gaetz stood by Trump’s side during his legal hearings in New York earlier this year
Cornyn argued that the Senate plays a role in eradicating the UN
Earlier this week, Johnson begged Trump not to select any more Cabinet members from the House of Representatives because this could threaten the slim majority of Republicans in the House.
Republicans officially won control of the House of Representatives on Wednesday, giving them control of the minimum 218 seats needed to maintain a majority.
Although their majority is already under threat – and not by the Democrats.
The president-elect has already brought in several high-profile Republican members of the House of Representatives to fill the many positions in his future administration.
Trump has already nominated Reps. Elise Stefanik of New York as ambassador to the United Nations, Mike Waltz of Florida as national security adviser and Matt Gaetz of Florida as attorney general.
As it stands, Republicans have won 218 seats compared to Democrats’ 209 seats in the next Congress that will convene in January 2025. There are still eight House races without results.
“It’s a big problem to have,” Johnson optimistically told Fox News. “We have an embarrassment of riches in the Republican Congress.”