House to vote on whether Gaetz ethics investigation report will be released

(WASHINGTON) — The House is expected to vote Thursday night on whether to force the Ethics Committee to release the report from its investigation of former Florida Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz.

Democratic Rep. Sean Casten‘s privileged resolution requires the Ethics Committee to release its report on Gaetz. Casten introduced an updated privileged resolution Tuesday which included several previous examples of the committee releasing reports on former members of Congress. Another from Democratic Rep. Steve Cohen requires the committee to preserve all documents related to Gaetz.

Republican leadership is expected to introduce a motion to table and effectively kill the measures, but it wasn’t clear Thursday afternoon if that effort would be successful — it would take only a handful of Republicans to cross party lines and vote with Democrats to force the committee to release the report.

The Ethics Committee was investigating allegations that Gaetz engaged in sexual misconduct, illicit drug use, shared inappropriate images or videos on the House floor, misused state identification records, converted campaign funds to personal use, and/or accepted a bribe, improper gratuity, or impermissible gift.

If the motion to table the effort fails, the chamber will take a vote on whether to release the Gaetz report.

The floor vote will come after the bipartisan Ethics Committee meets Thursday afternoon, when the 10-member panel will discuss the report. During the last meeting in November, Republican committee members blocked the release of the Gaetz report.

Johnson has consistently said the Gaetz ethics report should not be released to the public, citing a longstanding tradition of dropping investigations after a member leaves Congress. Gaetz resigned abruptly last month after President-elect Donald Trump announced him as his selection for attorney general. He later withdrew from consideration after it became clear he was facing an uphill climb from both Democrats and Republicans in the Senate, which would vote whether to confirm his nomination.

Democrats pushed for the report’s release after Trump’s announcement, saying it was relevant to the Senate’s consideration of him for attorney general. Even though Gaetz withdrew, Democrats decided to continue their effort.

Gaetz was reelected to the 119th Congress before Trump picked him for AG, but he announced after his withdrawal that he would not serve another term. He pledged that he remains “fully committed” to assisting the president-elect.

Gaetz has since been selling private videos on Cameo, a website where users can purchase a personalized video message from from celebrities.

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