Democrat launches push to force release of the Gaetz ethics report

Rep. Sean Casten isn’t giving up on his quest to see the House Ethics Committee’s investigation into Matt Gaetz, despite the former Florida representative withdrawing from consideration for attorney general.

Casten took to the floor Tuesday to introduce a new privileged resolution that would force the release of the latest version of the ethics report. House leaders will have two legislative days to schedule a vote, which would only be successful if Casten gets a majority of the House to approve it.

“Withholding this report from the American people would impede the dignity and integrity of the legislative proceedings of the House,” Casten said in a statement Tuesday.

Many Republicans, including Speaker Mike Johnson, were opposed to releasing the report even while Gaetz was a pending nominee. Some GOP senators at the time expressed interest in seeing the conclusions. Now that Gaetz has withdrawn, more GOP lawmakers have said the matter should be over and the report should not be published. That means Casten’s resolution has long odds at passing.

Johnson’s office did not respond to a request for comment on the new resolution. He had previously said he didn’t think the Ethics Committee should release reports about former members.

The House Ethics Committee is due to meet Thursday to discuss next steps after declining to release the Gaetz report earlier in November. The report details investigations into several claims, including that Gaetz had sex with a minor. Gaetz has denied any wrongdoing.

Casten’s resolution states that the House “shall immediately release the latest draft of its report and a summary of its findings to the public, including any conclusions, draft reports, recommendations, attachments, exhibits and accompanying materials, with such redactions as may be necessary and appropriate to protect sensitive information” regarding the Gaetz probe.

The Illinois Democrat formally filed his initial motion to force the report’s release on Nov. 20, telling POLITICO at the time that “we as the House have an obligation to make sure that that information gets released.” Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) filed a similar measure.

Gaetz took himself out of consideration to be Trump’s attorney general shortly after it became clear he faced long odds of confirmation in the Senate. Still, it’s possible Gaetz could play another role in the Trump administration that’s not subject to Senate confirmation, and Casten and others argue the information should still be made public, especially given the years of work that went into the Ethics Committee investigation.

Daniella Diaz contributed to this report.