No Report on Matt Gaetz, a Charged Minor, in the House Ethics Committee: The Status of “Matt Gaetz’s Intercourse with a Minor”
Gaetz was investigated by the Justice Department, but no charges were brought. His response to questions about engaging in sex with a minor, which was released as a result of his case being considered by the House ethics panel, was “No” at the time.
Gaetz, who led the charge to oust former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, alienated many of his fellow House Republicans for launching the chamber into weeks of chaos as they sorted out whom to elect speaker. McCarthy claimed that Gaetz was trying to end the ethics investigation and the committee needed to complete its work.
A client of Leppard testified that she witnessed Gaetz having sex with a minor at a party. The woman detailed how Gaetz paid her with credit cards, with details of the times and dates.
There is no decision as to whether the House Committee on Ethics will release its report into former congressman Matt Gaetz, who is under scrutiny for being nominated to be Donald Trump’s attorney general.
After meeting behind closed doors for about two hours Wednesday, panel Chair Michael Guest, R-Miss., told reporters “there was not an agreement by the committee to release the report.”
Ranking Member Susan Wild, D-Pa., said shortly after that there was “no consensus” on the issue, and that the committee will revisit the matter in a meeting on Dec. 5.
Wild will say that a vote was taken. “As many of you know, this committee is evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans — five Dems, five Republicans — which means that in order to affirmatively move something forward, somebody has to cross party lines and vote with the other side … that did not happen in today’s vote.”
The Speaker said that the release of the report would open the “Pandora’s box,” and that it was a violation of the practice of the panel not publicly revealing any information regarding probes of lawmakers who were not members of the House.
The speaker will not be influencing the committee’s decision, according to the ethics chair. We will make an independent decision when we meet.
Wild, the top Democrat on the panel, has said the report “should certainly be released to the Senate, and I think it should be released to the public, as we have done with many other investigative reports in the past.”
According to Kedric Payne, a former House ethics attorney, there are examples of the panel releasing their reports after members leave. They don’t usually do.
Sen. Lindsey Graham and the Gaetz “Lying Crowd”: Trump’s White House Adviser General Recuperation
Lindsey Graham, a member of the Judiciary, said he met both Gaetz and Vance. He said that he fear the process surrounding the Gaetz nomination is turning into an angry mob, and that unverified allegations are being treated as if they are true. I have seen this movie before.” He didn’t explicity say he would vote for Gaetz, but urged his colleagues to “join the lynch mob” and give him the chance to make his case.
I appreciate the work of Matt Gaetz in getting approval to be Attorney General. He was doing well but he didn’t want to distract from the work of the Administration for which he has much respect. Matt has a wonderful future, and I look forward to watching all of the great things he will do!” Trump posted on social media after Gaetz dropped out.
Former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., is withdrawing his candidacy to be President-elect Trump’s attorney general, after sex trafficking and drug use allegations threatened to imperil his confirmation.
“There’s no time to waste on a pointless squabble in Washington, so I’ll be withdrawing my name from consideration to serve as Attorney General,” he said.
It’s not clear if Gaetz can come back to Congress now that he’s already been voted in for the next session in his district, or if he’ll get a spot in Donald Trump’s administration.
As senators shuffled between lunch meetings and vote, they heard about his withdrawal. Several GOP lawmakers ignored reporters’ questions in the hallways, including Sen. Lindsey Graham, S.C., who met with Gaetz a day earlier.
Collins said that Gaetz put country first, and noted that there were a lot of red flags.
The senator said that he would not second-guess the president’s selection of Gaetz, but said that the president needed an attorney general that both the senate and he could have confidence in.
He said that the president had the right to make the nominations. “But the Senate also has a responsibility for advice and consent. I think there was advice offered rather than consent in this case.
Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., said there appeared to be “some signals” from Gaetz’s meetings with senators that his nomination would be a “major distraction.”
“Good on him to recognize that and be self-aware and provide President Trump with an opportunity to choose someone who’s equally tenacious about addressing the Department of Justice in its direction…and do it with someone who is going to have fewer headwinds in the Senate,” she said.
The president has lots of time to find a new nominee, says Sen. Iowa’s women’s caucus leader. There are other options for the nomination.
Asked about who might replace Gaetz as the nominee, Sen. Chuck Grassley, the incoming chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said he did not “have the slightest idea who they might be.”
