Washington — The House Ethics Committee is meeting to discuss the publication of a report on her investigation into former Rep. Matt Gaetzdid not reach an agreement on Wednesday afternoon, according to the committee chairman.
The meeting took place a week after the Florida Republican resigned from Congress following President-elect Donald Trump’s decision select him for attorney general.
House Ethics Committee Chairman Michael Guest told reporters that the panel had not reached an “agreement to release the report” when he left the meeting Wednesday afternoon.
Guest told CBS News that he voted against releasing the report, saying that “the committee no longer has jurisdiction over the issue, so I did not agree with the release of the information.”
The other members of the committee did not comment on the more than two-hour meeting as they left.
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The committee, made up of five Republicans and five Democrats, had been investigating allegations that Gaetz engaged in sexual misconduct and illegal drug use. The investigation first began in 2021 but was put on hold as the Justice Department conducted a sex trafficking and obstruction investigation of Gaetz. Last year, the ethics committee resumed its work, following the DOJ refused to charge Gaetz, who has denied any wrongdoing.
The panel is under increasing pressure to release the potentially damaging report after Trump’s announcement, as the Senate prepares for a fight over the president-elect’s most controversial Cabinet picks seeking confirmation. Before the move, the committee had done so scheduled to meet A vote on whether to release the report will take place on Friday, sources told CBS News. But Gaetz’s resignation from the House of Representatives ended the committee’s jurisdiction, complicating the path forward as reports on former members are not normally released.
Speaker Mike Johnson himself urged The committee decided not to release the report after warning last week of the “terrible precedent” the move would set, opening “Pandora’s box.” But the committee’s top Democrat has called for the report’s release, while senators on both sides of the aisle have pushed for the report to be made available to the Senate Judiciary Committee as the chamber steps out of its advisory and consent role wants to exercise on the issue. Trump’s Cabinet Selections. On Wednesday morning, Senate Democrats on the Judiciary Committee also sent a letter to the FBI asking Gaetz for the complete record of evidence related to the investigation into alleged sex trafficking of minors.
In June, the Ethics Commission said it had spoken to more than a dozen witnesses, issued 25 subpoenas and reviewed thousands of pages of documents as part of its investigation. It noted that “certain allegations” merited continued review, including claims of sexual misconduct, drug use and obstructing government investigations into his conduct, among others.
A lawyer for two women who spoke to the committee told CBS News that the women testified to the committee that Gaetz directly and repeatedly paid them for sex, noting that Venmo transactions related to the encounters were obtained by the panel. One of the attorney’s clients testified that she witnessed Gaetz having sex with a 17-year-old at a party in July 2017.
The ethics committee’s move Wednesday comes at a time when Senate Republicans, who flipped the upper chamber in the 2024 elections, are set to gain a narrow majority in the new Congress, which will strengthen and likely help Trump’s agenda streamline the confirmation of his administration and judicial nominees. But their majority is small, leaving the fate of Trump’s more controversial picks — like Gaetz — up in the air.
Trump said Tuesday he is not reconsidering his selection of Gaetz as attorney general. Meanwhile, Vice President-elect J.D. Vance and Gaetz met with some Senate Republicans at the Capitol on Wednesday, hoping to shore up support for his nomination.
contributed to this report.
