On November 16, 2024, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, urged the House Ethics Committee on Friday (November 15) not to disclose the investigation report on former Congressman Matt Gaetz, as Gaetz quickly resigned from his congressional position after being nominated by then President Trump to serve as Attorney General, depriving the committee of its investigative jurisdiction over him.
Johnson told reporters from the American political news website “Politico” and the Cable News Network (CNN) on Friday, “I will strongly urge the Ethics Committee not to release this report because this is not how we do things in the House, and I believe this would set a terrible precedent.”
“If someone is no longer a member of Congress, we do not have the official capacity to investigate and release a report about someone who is not part of this institution,” Johnson told reporters. “The jurisdiction of the Ethics Committee is for current members of Congress. This is an important rule.”
The Speaker also stated that he plans to discuss this matter with the Chairman of the House Ethics Committee, Michael Guest.
The House Ethics Committee had intermittently conducted an investigation into various allegations against Gaetz for over three years. Gaetz has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing. He resigned from Congress later on the same day Trump announced his nomination for him to be Attorney General.
Johnson, on Thursday night at Mar-a-Lago in Florida, had dinner with Trump and Gaetz but refused to disclose whether he discussed his position on releasing the Gaetz report with Trump.
On Friday, Johnson emphasized that it is a “tradition of the House” that once a member leaves Congress, the House will not release an investigation report about that individual.
However, a reporter mentioned a precedent from 1987 when the House Ethics Committee had released an investigation report on former Democratic Congressman William Boner after he had resigned from Congress.
Regarding this, Johnson expressed that it reflects the consequences of breaking precedents within the House, stating, “I think it would open Pandora’s Box.”
He added, “This is a very important rule that should be maintained,” and emphasized, “This rule should not have been broken in the first place.”
The House is currently facing pressure to release the Gaetz report. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin requested on Thursday that the House Ethics Committee “preserve and share their report.”