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The decision by the bipartisan committee was made earlier this
month, according to a person familiar with the vote who was not
authorized to publicly discuss the matter and spoke on condition
of anonymity Wednesday. CNN first reported the vote.
It's a stunning turnaround for the often secretive panel of five
Republicans and five Democrats. Just last month, members voted
along party lines to not release the findings of their nearly
four-year investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct
with minors and use of illicit drugs while Gaetz was in office.
Democrats had pressed to make the report public even though
Gaetz was no longer in Congress and had withdrawn as Trump's
pick to lead the Justice Department. A vote on the House floor
this month to force the report's release failed; all but one
Republican voted against it.
Gaetz lashed out Wedneday on social media against the latest
development, again denying any wrongdoing. He criticized the
committee for its move after he had left Congress, saying he
would have “no opportunity to debate or rebut as a former member
of the body.”
“It’s embarrassing, though not criminal, that I probably
partied, womanized, drank and smoked more than I should have
earlier in life,” Gaetz posted on X, the website formerly known
as Twitter. “I live a different life now.”
Most Republicans have argued that any congressional
investigation into Gaetz ended when he resigned from the House.
Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., also requested that the committee
not publish its report, saying it would be a terrible precedent.
While ethics reports have previously been released after a
member’s resignation, it is extremely rare.
Gaetz has noted that the Justice Department’s separate
investigation against him into sex trafficking allegations
involving underage girls ended last year without federal
charges.
Onetime political ally Joel Greenberg, a fellow Republican who
served as the tax collector in Florida’s Seminole County,
admitted as part of a plea deal with prosecutors in 2021 that he
paid women and an underage girl to have sex with him and other
men. The men were not identified in court documents when he
pleaded guilty. Greenberg was sentenced in late 2022 to 11 years
in prison.
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