Nov. 20 (UPI) — The House Ethics Committee on Wednesday opted to not release its report on President-elect Donald Trump‘s choice to be U.S. attorney general after sizable pressure to do so.
“There is not an agreement by the committee to release the report,” Rep. Michael Guest, R-Miss., the ethics committee chair, told reporters after lawmakers met in a closed-door meeting, The Hill reported.
The committee met for nearly two hours.
Gaetz, 42, is scheduled to likely see U.S. Senate confirmation hearings some time early next year to be Trump’s attorney general.
He’s been under an active investigation for roughly three years by the House Ethics Committee for alleged illicit drug use, accepting improper gifts and has since denied the longstanding allegations of sexual misconduct with a 17-year-old girl he allegedly paid for sex.
According to the panel’s top Democrat, Rep. Susan Wild of Pennsylvania, committee members will meet once more in a few weeks on Dec. 5 “to further consider this matter,” she said.
On Wednesday, Gaetz was on Capitol Hill to meet with lawmakers about his confirmation after he quickly resigned his House seat last week on the day Trump publicly tapped him to lead the Justice Department — the same federal branch that has investigated him.
However, Wild says it would be “inaccurate” to believe Guest’s assumption that “there is not an agreement” among ethics committee members on releasing the report’s findings on Gaetz.
“I will say that a vote was taken,” Wild confirmed. She pointed to how the congressional ethics committee is evenly divided between its five Republicans and five Democrats.
“Which means that in order to affirmatively move something forward, somebody has to cross party lines and vote with the other side,” she said, “which happens a lot, by the way, and we often vote unanimously.”
But even if the panel opts to keep the report under wraps, its details could still trickle out to the public or awaiting senators who ultimately will vote to confirm or deny Gaetz as a cabinet pick.
A lawyer and longtime Trump loyalist, Gaetz sat for eight years in the U.S. House of Representatives and was a member of the House Judiciary Committee.
In the meantime, a House Democrat from Illinois says he will file a rare resolution last used against ex-House Speaker Newt Gingrich in 1996 to force a House vote to release the report in days time.
“Given reports that the Ethics Committee will not release the Gaetz report today,” Rep. Rep. Sean Casten posted on social media later on Wednesday. “I will shortly introduce a privileged resolution to require a vote by the full House of Representatives on its release.”
It’s also possible the committee may vote to release the report at a later date. Meanwhile, Guest called the ethics committee report on Gaetz “unfinished work.”
Casten led an effort with 100 House Democrats in a letter released the day prior on Tuesday which called on their House colleagues to immediately release the Gaetz findings.
“Given the seriousness of the charges,” read part of the letter released on Bluesky, “withholding the findings of your investigation may jeopardize the Senate’s ability to provide fully informed, constitutionally required advice and consent regarding this nomination.”
It arrived as the watchdog group American Oversight took steps this week to get a federal court to force the release of records pertaining to a years-long federal investigation into the troubled ex-Florida congressman.
Gaetz’ “abrupt” resignation from the House, the letter continued, “should not circumvent the Senate’s ability to fulfill its constitutional responsibilities.”
“We urge you to immediately release the Ethics Committee’s,” it said.