Republicans on the House Ethics Committee successfully blocked the release of their report on Donald Trump’s nominee for attorney general, Matt Gaetz.
The former Republican representative from Florida had been the subject of a years-long investigation by the committee, stemming from allegations of sexual misconduct and drug use. In a vote on Wednesday, the panel of three Republicans and three Democrats deadlocked along party lines, leaving the report unreleased.
The group’s top Republican, Rep. Michael Guest of Mississippi, shared that there was “no agreement” on whether or not to release the report.
Rep. Susan Wild of Pennsylvania spoke out on what happened at the meeting, telling the Associated Press that she didn’t want “the American public” to think “that the committee had unanimity or consensus on this issue not to release the report.”
The report has been in limbo since Gaetz’s rapid resignation following his nomination to lead the Department of Justice. Republican leaders have been pushing to squash the report, noting that Gaetz is no longer a member of the House and, therefore, not subject to the jurisdiction of the Ethics committee.
“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, and I think that would be a terrible precedent to set,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said last week.
Democrats have argued that their findings would be important to consider before any confirmation hearings on Gaetz’s potential cabinet position.
“We cannot allow this valuable information from a bipartisan investigation to be hidden from the American people,” said Senate Judiciary Chair Dick Durbin, D-Ill.
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