House Republicans vote to block release of Gaetz ethics report

House Republicans voted on Thursday to block a Democrat-led effort to release a long-awaited Ethics Committee report on allegations against former GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida.

House Republicans voted on Thursday to block a Democrat-led effort to release a long-awaited Ethics Committee report on allegations against former GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida. The House took a step to effectively shut down a resolution from Democrats that would have required the public release of the report. House GOP leaders sidelined the effort by Democrats by setting up a vote to refer the resolution to the committee, a move that blocks the report’s release for now. The outcome of the vote raises the question of whether the findings of the panel’s investigation will ever become public. Gaetz, who has denied any wrongdoing, withdrew from consideration as President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for attorney general last month after it became clear he didn’t have the votes in the Senate to win confirmation. The former congressman had faced headwinds on Capitol Hill in his bid to lock down sufficient support, and some Senate Republicans had called for the release of the ethics report as part of the vetting process. Last month, before Gaetz withdrew, Republicans on the House Ethics Committee voted behind closed doors – and against the will of Democrats on the panel – not to release the results of the investigation at that time. The vote was 206 to 198. One Republican – Rep. Tom McClintock of California – voted with Democrats. McClintock said in a statement to CNN that “Louis Brandeis said it best: ‘Sunlight is the best of disinfectants.’ This is a public report, prepared with public funds concerning the public conduct of a public official. Of course the public has a right to see it.”