House Ethics Committee remain stuck in deadlock over release of Gaetz report, Democrats look for other ways

The House ethics committee on Wednesday reached a deadlock and did not release its scathing report on former US House Representative Matt Gaetz. The committee could not make a unanimous decision after a 2-hour meeting over the matter, The Hill reported.

The pressure on the committee to release the report started to pile up after President-elect Donald Trump named Matt Gaetz to be the next US Attorney General, which was followed by the latter’s resignation from the House. “There is not an agreement by the committee to release the report,” Ethics Chair Michael Guest told reporters after the lengthy meeting.

As per the report, the panel met behind closed doors and took multiple votes, including one to release the controversial report “as is”. The panel also voted on publishing exhibits associated with the report, which also failed, and a third to formally “complete” the report, which passed in a bipartisan fashion.

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Outcry among Democrats over the deadlock

The top Democrat on the panel, Susan Wild, said that the committee is scheduled to meet again on December 5 “to further consider this matter." Shortly after Guest made the remarks about the meeting, Wild spoke on behalf of her party and said that it would be “inaccurate” to take Guest’s statement to mean there was consensus on the committee.

“I will say that a vote was taken,” Wild said. “As many of you know, this committee is evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans. Five Dems, five Republicans, which means that in order to affirmatively move something forward, somebody has to cross party lines and vote with the other side — which happens a lot, by the way, and we often vote unanimously," she added.

Meanwhile, Wild released a separate statement in which she claimed that Guest “betrayed the process by disclosing our deliberations within moments after walking out of the committee.” It is pertinent to note that details of the report could be made public or can reach the Senate even if the committee never moves to release it now that Gaetz has resigned.

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Some of the evidence and testimony reportedly on file with the committee has been leaked to ABC News, and a lawyer for two women who he says spoke to the Ethics Committee noted that his representatives told the panel that they saw Gaetz “having sex with a minor” at a party.

Democrats look for other ways

Meanwhile, the Republican firebrand has vigorously denied the allegations and pointed out that the US Department of Justice declined to charge him with a crime. Amid the chaos, Democrat Rep. Sean Casten is seeking other ways to extract the findings of the committee.

Earlier this week, Casten moved to force the committee to release its findings through a privileged resolution, The Hill reported. If the ethics committee does not release the report, the privilege commission will trigger voting of the whole House within two legislative days.

It is interesting to note that the motion was last moved in 1996 when Democrats unsuccessfully attempted to force the Ethics Committee to release its preliminary findings on then-Speaker Newt Gingrich.

“The allegations against Matt Gaetz are serious. They are credible. The House Ethics Committee has spent years conducting a thorough investigation to get to the bottom of it,” Casten said in a statement.

“This information must be made available for the Senate to provide its constitutionally required advice and consent," he added. Meanwhile, Guest has been expressing reservations over the release of the report arguing that it has not been completed yet.

Gaetz, on the other hand, is now trying to lure the Senate to confirm his nomination next year. However, several Republican senators have said they want to see the Ethics panel’s findings, and waves of Democrats have called for its release.

The committee started to investigate the Republican lawmaker in 2021 over allegations of sexual misconduct and illicit drug use. Gaetz was also accused of accepting improper gifts, dispensing special privileges and favours to individuals with whom he had a personal relationship and seeking to obstruct government investigations of his conduct.

With inputs from agencies.