House Republicans on Thursday voted against releasing the House Ethics Committee report about former Rep. Matt Gaetz's alleged child sex trafficking, protecting the Florida Republican whose nomination to be attorney general went up in flames thanks to his history of bad behavior.
All but one House Republican voted to table a resolution filed by Illinois Democratic Rep. Sean Casten, which would have ordered the release of the report. Republicans argued that the report should be kept secret now that Gaetz is a former member and the House no longer has jurisdiction over him. However, Casten's resolution included multiple instances of times the House Ethics Committee released findings on ethical lapses by former members of the chamber.
"Given the serious nature of the allegations against Representative Gaetz, a failure of the Committee on Ethics of the House of Representatives to publicly release its report on its investigation undermines the committee’s credibility and impedes the safety, dignity, and integrity of the legislative proceedings of the House," the resolution stated.
