The US House of Representatives ethics committee has reportedly voted to release a report on sexual misconduct allegations against Matt Gaetz, the former Republican representative who was forced to drop his bid to become Donald Trump’s attorney general amid fallout over the accusations.
According to CNN, the House ethics committee voted earlier this month to release the report, which is expected to be made public after the chamber’s final votes of the year later this week.
The news comes a month after the committee deadlocked on whether to release the report, as members fell along party lines in the private vote. The recent decision now suggests that at least one Republican member of the panel has joined Democrats in supporting its publication.
Gaetz is accused of engaging in a sexual relationship with an underage girl, who reportedly told the ethics committee that she had two sexual encounters with him at a party in 2017. Gaetz has consistently denied the allegations, and the justice department declined to charge him last year as part of a sex-trafficking investigation.
The committee’s decision to release its report is noteworthy given that Gaetz is no longer a member of the House or a cabinet nominee. Gaetz, a hard-right representative from Florida known for making enemies on both sides of the aisle, withdrew from consideration to be Trump’s attorney general last month.
“There is no time to waste on a needlessly protracted Washington scuffle, thus I’ll be withdrawing my name from consideration to serve as attorney general. Trump’s [justice department] must be in place and ready on day one,” Gaetz said at the time.
“I remain fully committed to see that Donald J Trump is the most successful president in history. I will forever be honored that President Trump nominated me to lead the Department of Justice and I’m certain he will save America.”
The pro-Trump broadcaster One America News Network (OANN) announced last week that Gaetz would host a nightly political talk show in a primetime slot beginning next month.
