It on Thursday that the House Ethics Committee would release its report on the investigation into now-former Rep. Matt Gaetz, accused of drug use, bribery, and sexual misconduct with a minor. Nothing Friday has changed that narrative in the eyes of House Speaker Mike Johnson, per .
When asked by reporters if he thought the report should be made public, Johnson replied, "I do not," adding: "I think it's a terrible breach of protocol." Johnson went on to say that he planned to "strongly request" the ethics panel keep the report on Gaetz under wraps, before reaffirming he thought such a release would be a bad idea. "That is not the way we do things in the House," he said, noting that he planned to have a discussion with Ethics Chair Michael Guest.
"I think that would be a terrible precedent." reports that before Gaetz was nominated by President-elect Trump to be his next attorney general—prompting the former to suddenly resign from his congressional post—the Ethics Committee had planned to get together on Friday regarding the report. Guest now says that meeting has been postponed.
Johnson, however, notes that due to Gaetz's leaving Congress, the report is now moot—even if the public wants to know what's in it. "The rules of the House have always been that a former member is beyond the jurisdiction of the Ethics Committee, and so I don't think that's relevant," Johnson told reporters. notes that senators from both parties have said they'd like to see the report, and that "J.