House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) have become the latest key Republicans in Congress to say that a report detailing the investigation into Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) by the House Ethics Committee should not be released.
Gaetz resigned from Congress after President-elect Donald Trump nominated him to serve as U.S. attorney general in his administration. Johnson told reporters on Nov. 15 that Gaetz’s resignation puts him outside of the jurisdiction of the Ethics Committee, whose investigation into the former Congressman included sexual misconduct, drug use, misuse of campaign funds, and accepting improper gifts. Gaetz has categorically denied all the allegations.
“The rules of the House have always been that a former member is beyond the jurisdiction of the Ethics Committee,” Johnson told reporters. “I’m going to strongly request that the Ethics Committee not issue the report, because that is not the way we do things in the House.”
Johnson said that releasing the report would be a “terrible precedent” as well as a breach of protocol and tradition. While some Republicans, including Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), have called for the report to be released, others, including Johnson, have expressed opposition.
“It shouldn’t go public,” Jordan told Fox News on Thursday, arguing that the report is not supposed to be released under House rules.
The chairman of the Ethics Committee, Rep. Michael Guest (R-Miss.), has said that the report would not be released. Guest said earlier this week that the proceedings of the committee are confidential and “we’re going to maintain that confidentiality.”
On the other side of the aisle, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), current chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has called for the report to be shared with the Senate panel.
The Ethics Committee had been investigating Gaetz since 2021. However, at the request of the Department of Justice (DOJ), the committee deferred its review while the DOJ conducted its own probe. In May 2023, after the DOJ withdrew its deferral request, the committee resumed its investigation, reviewing thousands of documents and issuing dozens of subpoenas.
The committee said in June 2024 that some allegations against Gaetz, including dispensing favors and obstructing government investigations, merited further review, while others did not.
Gaetz, a longtime ally of Trump, was nominated on Nov. 13 by the president-elect, who praised him as a “deeply gifted and tenacious attorney” who would reform the DOJ.
“Few issues in America are more important than ending the partisan Weaponization of our Justice System,” Trump said in a statement. “Matt will end Weaponized Government, protect our Borders, dismantle Criminal Organizations, and restore Americans’ badly shattered Faith and Confidence in the Justice Department.”
Several Republican senators, including Sens. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) and Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), have said that Gaetz’s confirmation in the Senate faces an uphill battle.
“Any Republican Senator seeking the coveted LEADERSHIP position in the United States Senate must agree to Recess Appointments (in the Senate!), without which we will not be able to get people confirmed in a timely manner,” Trump wrote on social media. “Sometimes the votes can take two years, or more. This is what they did four years ago, and we cannot let it happen again.”
Incoming Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) said he would allow for recess appointments.
To clear the way for recess appointments, senators would have to pass a motion of adjournment with a simple majority vote. This is possible, given that Republicans are projected to have a 53–47 majority in the Senate. However, it would require near-unanimous agreement on the part of GOP senators to overcome what could potentially be a solid wall of Democrat opposition.
