The House Ethics Committee voted quietly earlier this month to release its report on the former lawmaker’s conduct. Matt Gaetz In Florida, multiple people with direct knowledge of the decision told ABC News.
The report was released after the last House vote of the year and the members are going home for the holidays, these sources said.
The move appeared to catch Gaetz off guard. He told ABC News he was not aware of the board’s decision.
In a lengthy response to X, the conservative firebrand said: “I have never been charged. I have never been sued. Instead, House Ethics will publish a report online that I have no opportunity to dispute or refute as a former member of the body.” .
CNN was the first to report the development.
Matt Gaetz speaks during day three of the 2024 Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisc., on July 17, 2024.
Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images, FILE
Members of the House Ethics Committee declined to comment to ABC News.
Gaetz has been under control in the meantime allegations of sexual misconductamong others, accusations that he had sex with a minor, which he has denied for a long time.
President-elect Donald Trump selected him last month to serve as attorney general in the incoming administration, and Gaetz resigned his congressional seat shortly thereafter. But then Gaetz removed his name considering that his confirmation process was “becoming an unfair distraction from the critical work of the Trump/Vance Transition.”
The House Ethics Committee was in the final stages of its investigation into Gaetz when Trump named him attorney general, sparking a heated debate on Capitol Hill over whether the panel should release the report.
