Mr. Trump’s allies want to keep Mr. Gaetz’s ethics investigation report private

“I will firmly ask the Ethics Committee not to release this report, because that is not how we work in the House of Representatives,” said US House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican member and ally of the House of Representatives. President-elect Donald Trump, speaking to reporters at Congress on November 15.

His comments came after lawmakers from both parties on the Senate Judiciary Committee said they wanted to see the House Ethics Committee’s unreleased report on former Rep. Matt Gaetz, who nominated by Mr. Trump to be attorney general, as part of the Senate confirmation process for cabinet candidates. The process will begin next year with public hearings.

Gaetz, 42, was investigated by the House Ethics Committee for allegedly soliciting prostitution and using illegal drugs, among other matters. He denies all allegations.

On November 13, immediately after being nominated by Mr. Trump to be attorney general, Gaetz resigned as a congressman, causing the investigation to end two days before the House Ethics Committee was expected to release its report.

House Speaker Johnson also said he plans to urge House Ethics Committee Chairman Michael Guest not to provide the Gaetz report to the Senate Judiciary Committee.

“The rule of the House of Representatives has always been that after a parliamentarian resigns, he or she will no longer be under the investigative authority of the Ethics Committee. The publication of the report will seriously violate the process, tradition as well as the spirit of the rules.” congestion, and at the same time create a bad precedent,” Mr. Johnson, who just returned from meeting President-elect Trump at Mar-a-Lago resort, Florida, added.

Responding to reporters on November 13, Johnson said he could not participate in the decision of whether to release the report or not.

Police began looking for Gaetz during the investigation of his friend Joel Greenberg, a former tax officer who was sentenced to 11 years in prison in 2022 for soliciting prostitution for minors and a number of other crimes. The US Department of Justice also investigated him for suspicions of soliciting prostitution involving a 17-year-old girl and obstructing law enforcement officers.

Gaetz’s office said last year that prosecutors had announced he would not be charged, but the House Ethics Committee was still investigating. If confirmed as attorney general, Gaetz could drop all police investigations against him.

Gaetz is a loyal ally of President-elect Trump. He needs to be confirmed by the Senate for the position of Attorney General. The Republican Party currently holds the majority in the Senate, but some lawmakers in the party have expressed skepticism about this choice of the President-elect.