Will the House of Representatives ethics panel release a report on Gaetz’s misconduct allegations? | News about the 2024 US elections

Whether Matt Gaetz serves as U.S. attorney general during President-elect Donald Trump’s second administration depends on several factors, including what senators think of a House committee investigation into alleged sexual misconduct by the former U.S. Rep. the Florida House of Representatives.

The House Ethics Committee is scheduled to meet on Nov. 20, where it could decide whether to issue a bipartisan report on the allegations against Gaetz.

Ahead of the Senate confirmation hearings, senators, including some Republicans, urged the House of Representatives to release the report. Gaetz resigned from Congress on November 13.

US House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson has said he does not want the committee’s report released because it would set a “terrible precedent.”

Has the House Committee released reports on non-members of Congress? Who decides whether the report is released? Here you will find answers to these questions and more.

What is the House Ethics Committee?

The House established the Standards of Official Conduct Committee in 1965, now called the House Committee on Ethics, or the House Ethics Committee. It checks whether members of the House adhere to the chamber rules and applicable laws.

Unique among House of Representatives committees, membership is evenly split between Republicans and Democrats, currently five lawmakers from each party. Because one party cannot alone dictate the panel’s actions, every decision carries dual weight.

Why did the Justice Department and House of Representatives investigate Gaetz?

In late 2020, when Trump was president and Bill Barr was attorney general, the Justice Department began investigating allegations that Gaetz was involved in sex trafficking of a 17-year-old girl.

The investigation intensified when Gaetz became linked to Joel Greenberg, a former tax collector in Seminole County, Florida, who pleaded guilty in 2021 to six federal crimes, including sex trafficking.

Greenberg had admitted to paying women for sex; he also admitted to paying a minor for sex and introducing her to other men. He was sentenced to 11 years in prison.

In a plea deal, Greenberg gave investigators information about Gaetz, and prosecutors began investigating whether Gaetz was involved in the sex trafficking scheme.

The department also investigated other Gaetz associates and private trips he took to the Bahamas and New York in 2018 and 2019. Gaetz has repeatedly denied wrongdoing and called the investigation into him politically motivated.

In February 2023, the Justice Department told Gaetz’s attorneys that they would close the investigation without recommending charges, in part as prosecutors grappled with whether a jury would find the witnesses, including Greenberg, credible.

In parallel, the House Ethics Committee began an investigation into Gaetz in 2021 for his alleged involvement in the sex trafficking scheme and other allegations of sexual misconduct.

The committee initially turned to the Justice Department before expanding its investigation into allegations that Gaetz used illegal drugs, obstructed investigations into his conduct and accepted improper gifts.

While the committee plans to meet Wednesday to discuss the report’s release, Joel Leppard, an attorney representing two women involved in the allegations against Gaetz, told ABC News that both women told committee investigators Gaetz had given them several times paid for sex.

Leppard told ABC News that one of his clients also saw Gaetz having sex with a third woman — who was 17 years old at the time — at a house party in Florida in 2017.

Would releasing the report set a precedent?

In CNN’s State of the Union address on Sunday, Johnson called the report’s release “a Pandora’s box,” saying there is a “very important protocol and tradition” that does not extend the commission’s jurisdiction to non-members .

In some cases, when the committee has announced an investigation but a lawmaker resigns within days, the panel does not act further. In 2011, Anthony Weiner, a Democratic congressman from New York City, resigned after the committee launched a preliminary investigation into sexting allegations, but closed the investigation when Weiner resigned.

In 2017, the panel opened an investigation into allegations that Arizona Rep. Trent Franks offered a female staffer $5 million to bear his child, but the probe was closed when he resigned.

Despite such examples, “there is no precedent that prevents the release of a report on a former member,” said Donald Wolfensberger, a congressional scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and former staff director of the House Rules Committee.

In 1987, Representative Bill Boner of Tennessee resigned after winning a race for mayor of Nashville. Despite his departure, the House of Representatives committee released an initial report on its investigation into allegations of improper spending and bribes.

In its report, the committee said it “generally has not issued reports” after defeat in resignation, retirement or re-election, but added that there were “a number of issues” in Boner’s case that “warranted public disclosure.” .

In 1990, the committee released a report a day after the resignation of Republican Congressman Buz Lukens of Ohio, who was convicted of charges related to paying an underage girl $40 for sex.

The committee had investigated other allegations of inappropriate behavior by Lukens toward House staffers. Although the committee ended its active investigation when Lukens resigned, it voted to release a summary of the case.

Some investigations have even been launched after lawmakers’ resignations.

In 2006, the committee opened an investigation into former Rep. Mark Foley of Florida after he left the House and subsequently issued a report. Foley was accused of sending sexually suggestive messages to House Pages, high school students.

And in 2011, the committee voted to reauthorize an expired investigation into former Democratic New York Congressman Eric Massa, who resigned in 2010 after allegations of groping his staff.

Who decides to release the report? What is Johnson’s role?

Johnson said on State of the Union that “the speaker has no power to stop the publication of a report by the Ethics Commission.”

Rather, it is a matter for the committee itself. After the committee approves the report, the chairman submits it, “unless the committee determines otherwise,” Wolfensberger said.

Some Republican senators have called on the House of Representatives to release the report. The House is an independent body and therefore does not have to bend to the will of the Senate. But such calls could put public pressure on the Ethics Commission to release it.

If the Senate does not confirm Gaetz, what are his options?

If the Senate does not confirm Gaetz through the normal process, Trump could install him as a “recess appointment.” The president can make such appointments when Congress is in recess for at least ten days. However, the recess appointment would only be valid until the end of the congressional session, which typically occurs at the end of the year.

If Gaetz’s appointment as attorney general fails, Gaetz could return to the House of Representatives. Although he has resigned from the current Congress, Gaetz was re-elected to the next Congress and would be eligible to serve if he so chooses, as long as he decides to do so before the new House is sworn in on January 3.

Trump could also appoint Gaetz to another executive branch position that would not require Senate confirmation.

Gaetz could also run for governor of Florida, a seat that will open in 2026, when Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis will serve a term-limited term. Political analysts have long considered Gaetz a top contender for the seat.