House ethics committee skips meeting as Democrats push to make Gaetz report public
SalonThe House Ethics Committee is scrapping a planned Friday meeting as pressure builds for the oversight panel to release a report on attorney general nominee Matt Gaetz’s alleged sexual misconduct and illicit drug use. The release of the House Ethics report has been in doubt since former Rep. Gaetz, R-Fla., resigned on Wednesday, hours after Donald Trump nominated him to lead the Department of Justice and two days before the committee was reportedly slated to release it. Though its full scope is unknown, the inquiry into Gaetz’s alleged misconduct included sworn testimony from a woman who says Gaetz slept with her when she was 17, ABC News reported, as well as an investigation into Gaetz’s presence at a drug-laden party in Florida in 2017, among a laundry list of other accusations. Gaetz denied the then-17-year-old’s account in a statement to ABC, calling it “invented” and “false testimony to Congress.” “This false smear following a three-year criminal investigation should be viewed with great skepticism,” he said.