Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., resigned from Congress late Wednesday, hours after President-elect Trump nominated him for U.S. Attorney General – and days before a long-awaited House Ethics report was reportedly to be released about him.
Earlier Wednesday, after news broke that Gaetz was chosen for the Trump Cabinet, House Ethics Committee Chair Rep. Michael Guest, R-Miss., told reporters that their investigation, which had reportedly centered around allegations Gaetz engaged in sexual misconduct with a minor and illicit drug use, would end if Gaetz were to step down from Congress.
Gaetz has denied those misconduct allegations.
"This changes nothing," Guest said in the Capitol, referring to Gaetz’ nomination.
"I've been asked, ‘Does this call us to expedite our investigation?’ Once the investigation is complete, then a report will be issued," Guest said. "Assuming that at that time, that Mr. Gaetz is still a member of Congress. If Mr. Gaetz were to resign because he is taking a position, with the administration, as the attorney general, then the Ethics Committee loses jurisdiction at that point. Once we lose jurisdiction, there would not be a report that would be issued that's not unique to this case."
Guest said the Justice Department had previously requested the committee "cease and desist" its probe, which the House had since picked back up and was continuing.
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The committee was slated to vote on whether to release the ethics report as soon as Friday, Punchbowl News first reported.
Citing a Republican source, the New York Times reported that the report had been delayed because of a House rule that prevents releasing negative findings so close to an election. Gaetz was the architect behind the ouster of former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., and dozens of Republican lawmakers tipped off about his resignation before it was formally announced Wednesday night were glad to see him go, Politico reported.
A House Republican told Politico on condition of anonymity that Gaetz was stepping down from Congress to "stymie the ethics investigation that is coming out in one week."
But House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., offered a different explanation. At a press conference later Wednesday, Johnson said Gaetz told him he resigned abruptly to expedite the process of filling his House seat through a special election.
Republicans held onto the House after last week’s election, cementing unified power across Congress and the White House, but there has been some concern over the margin, as Trump plucks House Republicans to join his new administration.
Johnson said he was optimistic about finding Gaetz’s replacement before the House chooses a new speaker on Jan. 3, but it is unclear if state and federal law can accommodate the tight timeline.
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"He issued his resignation letter, effective immediately, of Congress. That caught us by surprise a little bit," Johnson told reporters. "But I asked him what the reasoning was, and he said, ‘Well, you can't have too many absences.’ So under Florida State law, there's about an eight-week period to select and fill in a vacancy. And so by doing so today, that allows me – I've already placed a call to Governor DeSantis in Florida and said, ‘Let's start the clock.’ He's in Italy at the moment. And so we're going to talk first thing in the morning."
"And if we start the clock now, if you do the math, we may be able to fill that seat as early as Jan. 3 when we take the new oath of office for the new Congress," Johnson said. "So, Matt would have done us a great service, by making that decision, as he did on the fly. And so we're grateful for that."
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., told reporters earlier Wednesday that Trump’s decision to nominate Gaetz as attorney general "is a strong statement that the weaponization of government, you know, in the Biden administration using government against their political enemies as coming to an end, that party's over, and we're going to clean up the mess over at the Department of Justice."
Politico reported, however, that several Republican senators were doubting Gaetz would be confirmed to the attorney general position., and those doubts appeared to carry over into the House.
"When it comes to all of his selections, I think all of them have been made with a lot of intent and respect and integrity – when it comes to the selection of Rep. Gaetz, I just think it's silly. I believe that the president is probably rewarding him for being such a loyal soldier," Rep. Max Miller, R-Ohio, told reporters. "But the president is smart enough, and his team is smart enough to know that Mr. Gaetz will never get confirmed by the Senate whatsoever. And so this is just going to be a very long period of time for him, that he's going to get excoriated by members of the Senate on both sides of the aisle, because he's never been a team player and he's never helped out this conference."
