AlterNet - 'Craven spineless worms': GOP-led Ethics Committee slammed for keeping Gaetz report secret



A report on Attorney General-designate Matt Gaetz will remain under wraps until at least next month, after the latest meeting by the Republican-controlled House Committee on Ethics. Legal experts, political commentators and journalists are all condemning the decision to suppress the report.

On Wednesday afternoon, The Hill reported that the committee — which is evenly divided with both five Republicans and five Democrats — failed to reach a conclusion on whether to release the report to the public. Rep. Michael Guest (R-Miss.), who chairs the committee, would only say there was "not an agreement" between Democrats and Republicans after more than two hours of deliberations. In response to Guest's comment, Rep. Susan Wild (D-Penn.), who is the ranking member of the committee, accused Guest of breaking his own word to not discuss the committee's private deliberations.

"[Guest] has implied that there was an agreement of the committee not to disclose the report," she said. "That is inaccurate."

The next meeting of the Ethics Committee is on December 5, but some are calling on the report to be made public in other ways. Author Lesley Abravenel encouraged anyone with the report to "LEAK THE DAMN THING." Journalist Judd Legum posted to the social media platform Bluesky that "the Senate should just redo the investigation publicly during the confirmation hearing."

"Recall every witness," Legum wrote. "Get it all out there."

/snip