Top Ethics Panel Democrat Says Gaetz Report Should Be Public

Rep. Susan Wild, the top Democrat on the House Ethics Committee, said the panel’s report on former Rep. Matt Gaetz should be made public, appearing to dismiss claims that this is an unusual move.

President-elect Donald Trump last week tapped Gaetz to become the next attorney general, an immediately controversial choice as the Justice Department investigated him over sex trafficking allegations and House lawmakers investigated claims of sexual misconduct and drug use. The House panel was scheduled to vote on releasing its findings last week, but after Trump announced he would nominate the Florida Republican, Gaetz resigned from Congress. effective formwork the research.

Senators from both parties have called for the findings to be released anyway as they prepare for confirmation hearings on Trump’s nominees.

“It certainly should be released to the Senate, and I think it should be released to the public, as we have done with many other investigative reports in the past,” Wild, the Pennsylvania Democrat, told reporters Monday, according to a report in Politico.

Rep. Michael Guest (R-Miss.) also told Politico that he would not bow to pressure from House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), who has called for the report to be kept private. Johnson told Writing in the New York Times on Monday, he worried that this would “open a Pandora’s box of saying that the House Ethics Committee, with its vast resources and unlimited power, could effectively investigate private citizens and release reports on them.” ‘

“I appreciate Mike reaching out to us,” Guest told Politico after speaking on the phone with the speaker. “I don’t see it having an impact on what we as a committee ultimately decide.”

The ethics committee does meeting on Wednesday to discuss how to handle the report, and it could vote to release its findings. But the panel is split 5-5 between Republicans and Democrats, and if the votes are tied, the decision will be left to Republicans.

Wild, that one recently lost her re-election bid also told reporters Monday that she would wait to see how the panel would act before taking further action.

Her office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the report or her plans if her colleagues vote to block it from becoming public.