Matt Gaetz is plunging the House into chaos, again.
Members of the House Ethics Committee deadlocked over whether to release the findings of an investigation into the former Florida lawmaker, who is Donald Trump’s pick for attorney general. The inaction is triggering outrage among Democrats, who argue the committee is dragging out the process, while Republicans remain furious that Gaetz put them in this position.
In a bid to force the release of the Ethics report, which is expected to cover several allegations, including that Gaetz had sex with a minor, Democratic Reps. Sean Casten (D-Ill.) and Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) are offering motions that would open up the decision to the full House.
Conservative allies of Trump and Gaetz are threatening retribution over such a move, but several Republicans are still insisting they want the report to come out. In a manifestation of the tumult, expelled Rep. George Santos, the recent subject of another Ethics Committee report, stopped by the Capitol to get in on the action, threatening to yell at Chair Michael Guest (R-Miss.) in defense of Gaetz.
“If he runs away from me, I’ll go stand in front of his office and scream at him, through his door,” Santos said, standing outside the Capitol looking for Guest.
The havoc is the latest illustration of how Trump’s looming return to Washington is shaking the foundations of Capitol Hill and forcing Republican lawmakers to make a series of immediate, high-stakes calls about the integrity of the legislative branch.
“This is awful,” said Rep. Joe Morelle (D-N.Y.). “It’s a black mark on the House of Representatives.”
Several House and Senate Republicans want to see the report, a demand some of them reiterated after a Wednesday Ethics Committee meeting on the subject resulted in no clear action. Another panel meeting on the matter is scheduled for Dec. 5.
Asked if he would still want the report to be given to the Senate, even if Ethics Committee Republicans didn’t support releasing it, Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) said: “The Senate deserves to have it, so they can make a good decision.”
Meanwhile, Democrats do not plan to let the GOP bury the findings of the Gaetz investigation, and that strain could pose a serious threat to the Ethics Committee itself. Rep. Susan Wild of Pennsylvania, the panel’s top Democrat, accused Guest of having “betrayed the process” by suggesting to reporters that the panel’s decision not to release the report was final.
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