Ethics panel to meet as pressure builds for Gaetz report release

Members of a secretive panel overseeing a long-running investigation into Matt Gaetz are set to privately meet on Friday, according to three people familiar with the matter.

The House Ethics Committee meeting was scheduled before Gaetz (R-Fla.) resigned from Congress this week, the people said. The committee doesn’t disclose its agenda — but the highly anticipated closed-door powwow would let them discuss what to do with the probe now that Gaetz is technically outside of their jurisdiction.

Speaker Mike Johnson announced that Gaetz had resigned Wednesday night, hours after President-elect Trump nominated the Florida firebrand to become attorney general. Johnson attributed the resignation to Gaetz wanting to allow his seat to be filled quickly, but House Republicans have speculated that he did so in order to avoid an Ethics Committee report that they believe was poised to be released in a matter of days.

The panel has been investigating several allegations, including that Gaetz engaged in sex with a minor. Gaetz has repeatedly denied wrongdoing.

Multiple members of the notoriously tight-lipped panel, which is evenly split between Democrats and Republicans, declined to comment to POLITICO on the investigation or the report. And leadership on both sides largely refused to weigh in on whether the committee should release the report.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries punted a question from POLITICO about the report to its top Democrat, Pennsylvania Rep. Susan Wild.

“That’s a question that would be best directed to Susan Wild, the top Democrat on the Ethics committee,” he said.

And Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) also dodged similar questions about the report’s release: “I’m not aware of any report. I know there are a lot of people talking about what may have happened, but the Ethics Committee doesn’t share with the rest of us what they’re working on.”

But some lawmakers, including those responsible for ultimately voting on Gaetz’s forthcoming nomination as attorney general, are making it clear that they want to see the findings.

“I want to see everything,” said Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), a member of the chamber’s Judiciary Committee, which will first consider and hold confirmation hearings on Gaetz’s nomination.

Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats, led by Chair Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) sent a letter to the House Ethics Committee on Thursday asking them to hand over documents related to the investigation, including the report.

Some House Republicans agree they want to see the report if Gaetz is going to continue pursuing the attorney general position. Though they don’t hold any power over his confirmation or over the Ethics Committee, Gaetz had a lot of enemies among his former House colleagues.

Rep. John Duarte (R-Calif.) told reporters after Gaetz’s nomination that there were “better choices” than Gaetz and if he pursues the nomination that the report “needs to come out.”

But the chair of the House Ethics Committee, Michael Guest (R-Miss.), told reporters Wednesday before Gaetz’s resignation had been announced that the probe would end if Gaetz was no longer a member of the House.

“Once the investigation is complete, the Ethics Committee will meet as a committee. We will then return our findings. If Matt Gaetz is still a member of Congress, then that will occur. If Matt has resigned, then this ethics investigation, like many others in the past, will end again,” Guest said.

Asked Thursday if he would release the report, Guest sidestepped the question and pointed to his Wednesday remarks.