'Catastrophic consequences': Here’s why the Gaetz ethics investigation hasn’t been released

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi wasn't the first person Donald Trump had in mind for that position. In November 2024, after winning presidential election, Trump announced that he planned to nominate former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Florida). But Gaetz was so controversial, even among Republicans, that he withdrew from consideration.

Gaetz was the subject of two investigations: a U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) investigation on sexual misconduct allegations (Gaetz was never charged with anything), and a House Ethics Committee investigation. In an article published on March 18, Politico's Hailey Fuchs describes the cloud that still hovers over the Ethnics Committee thanks to Gaetz.

"Scandal-ridden former Rep. Matt Gaetz is gone from Congress," Fuchs explains, "but the wounds he inflicted on the House Ethics Committee that investigated him remain fresh."

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When Gaetz was still being considered for U.S. attorney general, there was much discussion over whether or not the Ethics Committee's report on the far-right MAGA congressman would be released.

"A flurry of news reports late last year revealed how members of the Ethics Committee were fighting over how to handle the Gaetz situation — insider information that spilled out into the public domain," Fuchs notes. "Finger-pointing abounded as to who was leaking the private details, including the fact that there was a split secret vote on whether to release the Gaetz report. These events also obliterated the longstanding presumption of nonpartisanship inside the (Ethics) Committee, which is the only panel evenly split between Democrats and Republicans."

Fuchs adds, "(Rep. Michael) Guest called the report's release a 'dangerous departure with potentially catastrophic consequences.' Speaker Mike Johnson had said he did not want the report to be public."

Some Democrats, Fuchs recalls, were very critical of Johnson at the time.

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Former Rep. John Yarmuth (D-Kentucky) complained, "Everything’s become so partisan, and if (the House Ethics Committee) hasn't become actually partisan, there’s suspicions of partisanship regardless of what people do or say. It undermines any decision the Committee makes."

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Read the full Politico article at this link.