Editorial: Publish the Matt Gaetz report: The House Ethics Committee findings must be released

New York Daily News Editorial Board, New York Daily News on Dec 9, 2024

Published in Op Eds

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Matt Gaetz resigned from Congress last month after representing the Florida Panhandle for eight years in order to forestall the House Ethics Committee from publishing a likely damning report about his behavior involving a sexual relationship with an underage girl and for paying for sex. That Donald Trump said he wanted Gaetz to be the U.S. attorney general (a truly horrible idea) was just a convenient way for Gaetz to stop the report.

The ethics panel report still must be published and two failed close votes on the House floor Thursday evening only means we still have to wait.

The explanation of Gaetz’s departure comes from former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who went on national TV Wednesday. McCarthy, who Gaetz toppled from power, has no love for Gaetz, but says he’s not alone, as “I don’t know who really likes him.”

The ex-speaker said Gaetz “wanted an excuse to resign” as the bipartisan ethics panel was due to release its findings on Nov. 15, a Friday: “I blame Matt for lying to the president because Matt needed to get out of Congress before the ethics report came out on Friday. I don’t believe he told President Trump that.”

Trump tapped Gaetz two days before, on Wednesday, Nov. 13, and Gaetz immediately submitted a letter of resignation. Neither his hasty exit from Congress nor having his AG nomination explode should stop the publication of the report.

As McCarthy said, “If he says he hasn’t done this, why don’t you clear his name? Put the report out there,” adding “these young women need justice.”

On Thursday afternoon the ethics committee met for hours but remained deadlocked on releasing the report, only saying: “The Committee is continuing to discuss the matter.”

It then went to the floor, where two motions to out the report failed narrowly, with only one Republican, California’s Tom McClintock, joining the Democrats. But the slim GOP control of the House will be even slimmer when the new Congress is sworn in on Jan. 3, making it more likely that Gaetz will not escape public scrutiny.

In the elections, Republicans won 220 seats and Democrats won 215, a closer margin than exists now. However Gaetz has turned his back on the people who reelected him and won’t take his seat, so on the first day the spread will be 219-215. And then on Jan. 20, with Rep. Elise Stefanik leaving to be Trump’s UN ambassador and Rep. Mike Waltz becoming the new national security, the House will be divided 217-215. And McClintock will still be there.

That makes it 216 to 216 to release the Gaetz report, taking only a single Republican to side for transparency. We think that Kevin McCarthy will have more friends among GOP conference members than Matt Gaetz.

None of Gaetz’s actions — resigning his seat, abandoning the new session or withdrawing from consideration as AG — can wipe away what is written in the report, so publish it.

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