Staff Reports
Matt Gaetz’s recent exit from the attorney general race for President Trump’s Cabinet has sent waves of confusion crashing through the House of Representatives, particularly regarding the long-awaited ethics report about the Florida congressman. The report, which has been under investigation for years, has been a hot potato on Capitol Hill, especially with Trump’s loyalists lobbying to keep it under wraps while Gaetz was in the running.
Now that Gaetz has waved goodbye to his hopes of being the top lawman in the land, the future of that pesky ethics report is anyone’s guess. The House Ethics Committee met but couldn’t manage to agree on whether to release the findings, planning instead to keep the conversation rolling into December. A dysfunction that might remind everyone just why Washington is often referred to as “the swamp.”
In a predictably melodramatic turn, Democrats are already revving their engines to force the committee’s hand. A duo of House Democrats wasted no time in introducing plans to unveil the findings of the years-long investigation into Gaetz’s alleged sexual misconduct. Apparently, Casten considered it a public duty to ensure the report lands in the laps of “the American people,” just in time for Thanksgiving. It must be a real holiday treat for the viewing public to ponder the morals of their elected officials.
Gaetz bailed out of his nomination one day after the committee meeting, claiming the spectacle surrounding his potential appointment was becoming too distracting—seriously, one can only take so much media attention. His departure raises eyebrows regarding whether the Ethics Committee even has the jurisdiction to pursue an investigation of someone who has resigned, with GOP leadership asserting that former members shouldn’t be subject to such probes. Speaker Mike Johnson highlighted this point, calling for the committee to let this report gather dust in the archives.
House Ethics panel has “no agreement” on releasing Matt Gaetz report after closed-door meeting – NBC News
Republicans protected Gingrich in the mid-90s and now they are showing their lack of care for ethics once again.
— David Mullings (@davidmullings) November 21, 2024
This sudden bout of drama has certainly raised eyebrows across the political spectrum, with some Republicans expressing their dismay over Gaetz’s nomination from the get-go. A number of them believe that transparency is key and that the ethics investigation reports should be public knowledge. Still, the levels of hypocrisy are palpable—it seems that not a few in the House would prefer to silence their own scandals while pointing fingers at others, because why not make it a game of favorites?
Some in the GOP are even suggesting that if this ethics report is going to make an appearance, why not release all ethics investigations from the past two decades? It’s a sentiment that proves one truth: the political game in Washington thrives on access to information, so long as it serves the interests of those in power. Meanwhile, relief ripples through the Republican ranks as they congratulate each other for dodging the Gaetz bullet, signaling that the circus must move forward without him, even if it’s left the ethics committee chasing its own tail.
