Will House Ethics Report on Matt Gaetz Be Released? What We Know

The investigation into sexual misconduct and obstruction allegations against former Florida Representative Matt Gaetz may be released by the end of the week.
Gaetz, a Republican, was nominated on Wednesday by President-elect Donald Trump to become U.S. attorney general. Just hours later, Gaetz resigned from the House, which ended the Ethics Committee’s probe into his alleged misconduct. Still, the committee’s report on Gaetz’s alleged involvement with sex trafficking a 17-year-old girl may be released.
The House Ethics Committee had scheduled a vote for Friday on whether to release its report, three sources told CBS News. With Gaetz’s resignation, it is unclear if the vote will go forward. Sources told the Miami Herald that the report could be leaked Thursday. Politico reported that the committee is not planning to release the report.
“What happens in Ethics is confidential. We’re going to maintain that confidentiality,” House Ethics Chair Michael Guest, a Mississippi Republican, told reporters Thursday morning. He said he had “no further comment” about the release of the report.
On Wednesday, Guest told reporters that the probe ended when Gaetz resigned.
“Once the investigation is complete, the Ethics Committee will meet as a committee. We will then return our findings,” Guest said. “If Matt Gaetz is still a member of Congress, then that will occur. If Matt has resigned, then this ethics investigation, like many others in the past, will end again.”
Newsweek reached out to the committee by phone for comment.
The probe stems from accusations that Gaetz was involved in recruiting women online for sex, including a 17-year-old girl. The Department of Justice (DOJ) last year told Gaetz that he would not face federal sex-trafficking charges.
“Mr. Gaetz’s likely nomination as Attorney General is a perverse development in a truly dark series of events,” Colorado-based attorney John Clune posted to X, formerly Twitter. “We should support the House Ethics Committee immediately releasing their report. She was a high school student and there were witnesses.”
Dawn Hawkins, CEO of the National Center on Sexual Exploitation, told Newsweek that because of the allegations, her group is hoping Gaetz does not get confirmed as attorney general.
“We urge the Senate not to confirm former Representative Matt Gaetz as U.S. attorney General while there remain serious, credible allegations of engaging in sex trafficking of a minor and prostitution,” Hawkins said in a statement.
“As the nation’s highest law enforcement officer, he would be responsible for enforcing our nation’s laws prohibiting sex trafficking, child sexual abuse material, prostitution, and obscenity. The victims and survivors we serve deserve no less, and the people of this country deserve assurance that their leaders are committed to justice without exception.”
Gaetz has vehemently denied that he did anything improper and blames the accusations on a smear campaign. He posted to X that the allegations began under former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
“The House Ethics Committee has closed four probes into me, which emerged from lies intended solely to smear me,” Gaetz wrote. “Instead of working with me to ban Congressional stock trading, the Ethics Committee is now opening new frivolous investigations. They are doing this to avoid the obvious fact that every investigation into me ends the same way: my exoneration.
“This is Soviet. Kevin McCarthy showed them the man, and they are now trying to find the crime. I work for Northwest Floridians who won’t be swayed by this nonsense and McCarthy and his goons know it.”
A report from The Daily Beast identified two Venmo transactions Gaetz had in 2018 with Joe Greenberg, an accused sex trafficker, for a total of $900. Greenberg then sent the money to three teen girls in transactions labeled “tuition” and “school.”
Logan Circle Group, a public relations firm that responded on Gaetz’s behalf, told The Daily Beast that the “rumors, gossip and self-serving misstatements of others will be addressed in due course by my legal team.”
In February 2023, the DOJ informed Gaetz hat he would not face federal sex-trafficking charges over allegations that he was involved in recruiting women online for sex.
Along with investigating Gaetz for sexual misconduct, the committee is looking into allegations of illicit drug use, sharing inappropriate images on the House floor, misusing state identification records, converting campaign funds to personal use and accepting a bribe or impermissible gift.
“Once again, the office will reiterate: These allegations are blatantly false and have not been validated by a single human being willing to put their name behind them,” Jillian Wyant, Gaetz’s chief of staff, previously told Newsweek in a statement.
Senator John Fetterman, a Pennsylvania Democrat, said the upcoming vote for Gaetz to potentially become attorney general will show what his Republican colleagues really think about him.
“But really the Dems’ opinion on Gaetz, that’s not really what’s interesting,” Fetterman told reporters. “What to me is interesting is, the good ones [opinions] are gonna come by my colleagues on the other side, the GOP, on how they can justify voting for that j******.”
Some Republican lawmakers have already expressed their concerns over Trump’s nomination.
“I was shocked at the nomination,” Maine Senator Susan Collins told Punchbowl News reporter Max Cohen. “This is why the Senate’s advise and consent process is so important. I’m sure that there will be many, many questions raised at Mr. Gaetz’s hearing.”
Ohio Republican Representative Max Miller told Axios reporter Juliegrace Brufke on Wednesday that “Gaetz has a better shot at having dinner with Queen Elizabeth II than being confirmed by the Senate,” referring to the British royal who died in September 2022.
Republican Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina said getting enough votes won’t be easy for Gaetz.
“I’m all about counting votes, and I would think that he’s probably got some work cut out for him,” Tillis told Semafor’s Burgess Everett. “We’re not going to get a single Democrat.”
Update 11/14/24, 2:55 p.m. ET: This story was updated with a statement from Dawn Hawkins, CEO of the National Center on Sexual Exploitation.