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Washington — House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican from Louisiana, said on Friday that he would “strongly request” that the House Ethics Committee refrain from publishing
A report outlining the findings of its probe of former Representative Matt Gaetz, a Republican from Florida. Since 2021, the Ethics panel had been looking into Gaetz,
Who resigned this week after being selected as attorney general by President-elect Donald Trump. Any misconduct has been disputed by him.
Johnson said that he intends to inform the panel’s chairman, Rep. Michael Guest, R-Miss, that the report’s publication would be a “horrible breach of protocol, tradition,
And the spirit of the rule” now that Gaetz is no longer a serving congressman. When asked whether the public should read the report, Johnson said,
“The House has always been that a former member is beyond the jurisdiction of the ethics committee.” “I humbly ask that the Ethics Committee refrain from publishing the report.”
Ethics reports have previously been made public on or on the same day as a member of Congress resigns.
The committee sent their findings to the legislators two months after former Representative Bill Boner, D-Tenn., resigned in 1987, and on the day that former Representative.
Buz Lukens, R-Ohio, resigned from the House in 1990. Later on Friday, Johnson said that releasing the findings to the public “would open Pandora’s box.”
He said, “If it’s been broken once or twice, it should not have been.” Following his Thursday meeting with Trump at Mar-a-Lago, Johnson arrived back in Washington,
D.C., early on Friday morning. Johnson will not disclose whether he discussed the Ethics report with Trump.
The 10-member, nonpartisan Ethics panel was supposed to meet Friday to examine the Gaetz report and whether it should be made public.
However, a source with direct information said on Thursday that the meeting had been canceled.