House panel to release report on Gaetz sexual misconduct allegations | Matt Gaetz

House panel to release report on Gaetz sexual misconduct allegations | Matt Gaetz

The U.S. House of Representatives Ethics Committee has reportedly voted to release a report into allegations of sexual misconduct against Matt Gaetz, the former Republican lawmaker who was forced to abandon his bid to become Donald Trump’s attorney general amid controversy over the allegations.

According to CNN, the House Ethics Committee voted earlier this month to release the report, which is expected to be released after the chamber’s final votes of the year later this week.

The news comes a month after the committee deadlocked over releasing the report as members fell along party lines in the private vote. The latest decision now suggests that at least one Republican member of the panel has joined Democrats in supporting the release.

Gaetz is accused of having a sexual relationship with an underage girl who reportedly told the Ethics Commission that she had two sexual encounters with him at a party in 2017. Gaetz has consistently denied the allegations, and the Justice Department declined to charge him last year as part of a sex trafficking investigation.

The committee’s decision to release its report is notable because Gaetz is no longer a member of the House of Representatives or a Cabinet nominee. Gaetz, a far-right Florida official known for making enemies on both sides, withdrew from running to be Trump’s attorney general last month.

“We cannot waste time on an unnecessarily protracted melee in Washington, which is why I am withdrawing my name as attorney general. Trump’s (Justice Department) needs to be on the ground and ready from day one,” Gaetz said at the time.

“I continue to firmly believe that Donald J. Trump is the most successful president in history. I will forever be honored that President Trump chose me to lead the Justice Department, and I am confident he will save America.”

Pro-Trump network One America News Network (OANN) announced last week that Gaetz would host a prime-time evening political talk show starting next month.

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