A congressional committee has reportedly secretly voted to release its bombshell report into sex and drug use by ex-Rep. Matt Gaetz now that his bid for attorney general has imploded.
In a major reversal, the Republican-controlled panel voted last week to publish what is said to be a highly damaging report that effectively sunk Gaetz’ nomination by President-elect Trump to lead the Department of Justice, CNN reported Wednesday.
It wasn’t immediately clear when the Gaetz report might be made public but it could be anytime after the House leaves town for its end-of-year break.
Gaetz, 42, resigned his Florida congressional seat as he pressed a short-lived battle for confirmation as attorney general. He later said he wouldn’t return to Congress in January and has joined right-wing One America Network as a TV anchor.
The pro-Trump firebrand was investigated by federal prosecutors over the allegations that he had sex with paid female escorts at drug-fueled parties. At least one of the women was underage at the time she says she slept with Gaetz.
The feds declined to charge Gaetz, but his colleagues in Congress launched an ethics probe into the same allegations.
The House Ethics Committee, which is evenly divided between members of the two parties, was poised to release its report when Gaetz abruptly resigned on the same day Trump named him as his pick to be the nation’s top law enforcement official.
Stepping down immediately appeared to be a ploy by Gaetz to short-circuit release of the report because the panel typically only exercises jurisdiction over sitting members of Congress, not former members.
The panel initially agreed to set aside the report. But it apparently later made a U-turn behind closed doors, meaning at least one of the five GOP lawmakers on the panel must have broken ranks to vote with Democrats to bare Gaetz’s dirty laundry.
