House Speaker Mike Johnson hopes to keep a report on Donald Trump's prospective attorney general under wraps.
Johnson told reporters on Friday that he's going to ask the House Ethics Committee to keep a tight lid on any of their findings from a years-long probe into former Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz.
“I’m going to strongly request that the Ethics Committee not issue the report because that is not the way we do things in the House, and I think that would be a terrible precedent to set,” Johnson said.
The committee had been investigating Gaetz over allegations of drug use and sexual misconduct. Gaetz was previously the subject of an investigation by the Department of Justice over allegations that he had sex with a minor. The DOJ declined to charge Gaetz with any crime, and the ex-congressman has denied any wrongdoing.
Gaetz resigned from the House on Wednesday. The committee canceled a planned Friday meeting at which it would have held a vote on releasing the report. During their probe, the panel reportedly heard testimony from a woman who says Gaetz had sex with her when she was underage.
Senators on each side of the aisle have called for the report’s release, noting the importance of transparency as Gaetz seeks the top DOJ spot.
“I believe it is very important to maintain the House’s traditions of not issuing ethics reports on people who are no longer [members] of Congress,” Johnson said, per CNN. “I think it would open a Pandora’s box. It’s a very important rule that should be maintained. It has been broken once or twice; it should not have been.”
