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House Democrats will push to get Gaetz ethics report released after committee vote deadlocks

20 November 2024 at 22:41

A House Democrat is now moving forward with plans to try and compel its ethics committee to release the report on attorney general nominee and former Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz.

Rep. Sean Casten from Illinois is expected to bring a motion on the House floor Wednesday to compel the House Ethics Committee to release the report. The effort would require bipartisan support.

The move comes after the House Ethics Committee Wednesday tried to vote on whether to release the report. The committee, which is made up equally of Democratic and Republican lawmakers, deadlocked.

"This committee is evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans," said Rep. Susan Wild of Pennsylvania, ranking member of the committee. "In order to affirmatively move something forward, somebody has to cross party lines and vote with the other side which happens a lot, by the way. And we often vote unanimously. That did not happen in today's vote."

"There was no consensus on this issue. We did agree that we would reconvene as a committee on December 5th to further consider this matter," she said.

RELATED STORY | Trump backs former Rep. Matt Gaetz despite fallout from ethics investigation

Gaetz resigned just two days before the committee was originally scheduled to potentially release the findings of investigation.

House Speaker Mike Johnson has since said he believes the committee should not release the report since it deals with a now former member of the chamber.

In the meantime, Congressional Republicans have hinted that confirming Gaetz as attorney general may be difficult.

Gaetz was on Capitol Hill with Vice President-elect JD Vance Wednesday to set up meetings with lawmakers as they work to shore up support for his nomination.

Confirmation hearings are not expected to begin in earnest until January.

Trump backs former Rep. Matt Gaetz despite fallout from ethics investigation

20 November 2024 at 01:55

President-elect Donald Trump appears to be standing by former congressman Matt Gaetz, his nominee to be the next attorney general. Trump sent Vice President-elect JD Vance to Capitol Hill to coordinate meetings between Gaetz and Republican senators.

Meanwhile, members of the House Ethics Committee are reportedly meeting this week to determine whether to release a report into Gaetz's conduct. Some Republicans on Capitol Hill are predicting that details of the report will trickle out anyway, even if the committee decides against releasing its full report.

"The truth is the information is going to come out one way or the other," said Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas. "So I guess the more I thought about it, it's not critical that they release the report because we know roughly who the witnesses are and I assume they'll be called before the Judiciary Committee. I think in order to do our job, we need to get access to all the information, but also to protect the president against any surprises that might damage his administration."

RELATED STORY | President-elect Donald Trump picks Rep. Matt Gaetz to be next attorney general

It's still not clear whether former congressman Gaetz will have enough support among Senate Republicans to be confirmed to the position of attorney general. Those nomination hearings aren't expected to begin in the Senate Judiciary Committee in earnest until early next year.

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