Washington — The House Ethics Committee has voted silently to release him report The investigation into former Rep. Matt Gaetz into allegations of sexual misconduct and obstruction, two sources familiar with the matter said, reversed course after Republicans originally blocked his release.
The report will likely be released in the coming days, after the final votes in the 118th Congress, the sources said. Lawmakers face a Friday deadline approve new government funding and avoid a shutdown before returning home for the holidays. CNN first reported Thursday that the committee voted behind closed doors earlier this month to release the report.
The House Ethics Committee declined to comment.
Republican house recently blocked two Democratic resolutions that would have forced the Ethics Committee to release the potentially damaging report on its investigation into Gaetz, voting to refer the matter to the committee.
Gaetz resigned from Congress shortly after President-elect Donald Trump said he planned to nominate Gaetz will be attorney general in November. But Gaetz soon withdrew from consideration, facing a likely contentious confirmation process. Gaetz has said he does not intend to run for the same seat in the 119th Congress, and is premiering a new show on the pro-Trump news network One America in January.
It is highly unusual, but not unprecedented, for the House Ethics Committee to release a report on a member who is no longer in office. In other investigations, the prospect of a report being issued has been enough to cause the target of the investigation to resign from Congress. Senior lawmakers, including some Democrats, have expressed concern about the precedent set by disclosing Gaetz’s findings after he has already resigned.
In June, the commission issued a statement saying he was investigating allegations against Gaetz that included sexual misconduct, illegal drug use and bribery.
Multiple sources at the time told CBS News four women had reported to the Ethics Committee that they had been paid to go to parties that included sex and drugs, and that Gaetz had also attended. The committee has Gaetz’s Venmo transactions that allegedly show payments to the women.
Gaetz has repeatedly denied wrongdoing and called the smear campaign committee’s investigation “frivolous.”
Some of the allegations of sexual misconduct being reviewed by the committee were the subject of a previous Justice Department investigation into Gaetz. Federal investigators tried to determine whether Gaetz violated sex trafficking and obstruction of justice laws, however no charges were filed.