US House rejects Democrats’ efforts to force release of Matt Gaetz ethics report

The House shut down Democrats’ efforts Thursday to release the long-awaited ethics report into former congressman Matt Gaetz, pushing the fate of any resolution to the years-long investigation of sexual misconduct allegations into further uncertainty.

Most Republicans have argued that any congressional investigation into Gaetz ended when he resigned from the House. Speaker Mike Johnson also requested that the committee not publish its report, saying it would be a terrible precedent to set.

While ethics reports have previously been released after a member’s resignation, it is extremely rare.

Just before the votes took place, Illinois congressman Sean Casten, who introduced one of the bills to force the release, said if Republicans reject the release, they will have “succeeded in sweeping credible allegations of sexual misconduct under the rug”. Gaetz has repeatedly denied the claims.

Earlier on Thursday, the ethics panel met to discuss the Gaetz report but made no decision, saying in a short statement that the matter is still being discussed. It is unclear now whether the document will ever see the light of day as lawmakers only have a few weeks left before a new session of Congress begins.