GOP Ethics chair: We don't take orders from Speaker Johnson on the Gaetz report
Raw StoryHouse Speaker Mike Johnson does not get to dictate what the House Ethics Committee does, said the bipartisan committee's Republican chair on Monday, per Politico. The committee has to decide whether to release a potentially explosive report into former Rep. Matt Gaetz, who faces an investigation into alleged child sex trafficking, illicit drug use, and acceptance of improper gifts, among other transgressions. Johnson has argued that because Gaetz is no longer a member of Congress, he is outside the jurisdiction of the Ethics Committee and it is no longer appropriate to release the report. Regardless, Ethics Committee chair Michael Guest has not tipped his own hand about whether he'll actually vote to release the report — but told Politico that the pressure from Johnson will not be a factor.