“Republicans in House Vote to Stop Release of Gaetz Ethics Report”

House Republicans Thursday blocked a Democratic-led attempt to make public a long-awaited Ethics Committee report on accusations against Florida’s former GOP Representative Matt Gaetz.

The House effectively killed a Democratic proposal that would have required the report’s public distribution. To further hamstring the Democratic effort, House GOP leaders scheduled a vote to send the resolution to committee, which temporarily stalls the release of the report. The question of whether the panel’s probe’s findings will ever become public is raised by the vote’s outcome.

Gaetz, who has denied any misconduct, withdrew his candidacy as President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for attorney general last month when it became clear that he didn’t have the Senate votes to be confirmed. In the attempt to gain enough support, the former congressman encountered obstacles on Capitol Hill, and some Senate Republicans had even demanded that the ethics report be made public as part of the screening procedure.

Republicans on the House Ethics Committee, against the wishes of the Democrats on the panel, decided behind closed doors last month to withhold the investigation’s findings until after Gaetz’s withdrawal.

A vote of 206 to 198 was cast. California Representative Tom McClintock, a Republican, voted with Democrats.

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In an interview with CNN, McClintock said, “Louis Brandeis said it best: ‘Sunlight is the best of disinfectants.’” This report of a public official’s public behaviour was paid for with public funds. The public is entitled to see it, of course.

Before the House vote, the Ethics Committee met once more on Thursday. But after the meeting, the committee said it was “continuing to discuss the matter,” without revealing any information on when the report would be released.

The ethics panel no longer has authority because Gaetz is no longer a member of the House, according to House Speaker Mike Johnson, who has stated that he does not believe the findings should be made public. Gaetz, a Republican from Florida, left Congress soon after Trump named him his choice for attorney general.

Johnson referred to the ethics report as a “moot point” after the vote because Gaetz is no longer a member of Congress.

“I’ll let the committee handle their business there,” he said to reporters.

Democrats forced GOP leadership to hold a vote on the matter using a procedural maneuver.

Almost all House Republicans voted to defeat it, disappointing Rep. Sean Casten, who led the push to force a first House vote Thursday. The Republicans decided today that, well, it’s like Vegas. The Illinois Democrat said, “I guess what happens in Washington stays in Washington.”

The House then voted on a second, similar resolution sponsored by Democrats that aimed to compel the report’s release following the failed vote. That also was tabled.

In a June update on the progress of the investigation, the Ethics Committee stated that it was looking into claims that Gaetz might have “engaged in sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, accepted improper gifts, dispensed special privileges and favors to individuals with whom he had a personal relationship, and sought to obstruct government investigations of his conduct.” When the panel announced its decision, it stated that Gaetz had “categorically denied all of the allegations before the committee.”