Former Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz just received a very unwelcome Christmas present with the release of the House Ethics Committee report.

A few weeks ago, the committee voted not to publish the draft report for party political reasons. But the about-face is a welcome decision and shows that lawmakers are taking their responsibility seriously. Apparently, at least one Republican member of the evenly divided 10-member House Ethics Committee voted with Democrats to release the report.

As both lawmakers and journalists rush to read the committee’s findings again and again, we can expect more than a little schadenfreude. Gaetz is unpopular with politicians on both sides of the aisle, and his many critics will no doubt put the report at the top of their Christmas reading lists. “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas” will have to wait.

The report found that Gaetz purchased and used illegal drugs and “regularly paid” several women for sex during his time as a congressman. “In 2017,” the committee said, “Representative Gaetz engaged in sexual activity with a 17-year-old girl.” The committee concluded that there was “substantial evidence that Representative Gaetz violated House rules, state and has violated federal laws and other standards of conduct prohibiting prostitution, statutory rape, illegal drug use, accepting improper gifts, granting special favors and privileges, etc. “Obstruction of Congress.”

Gaetz told the committee that he denied any wrongdoing.

To recap: Gaetz has been working in the shadows of various investigations for some time. A lengthy Justice Department investigation ended in 2023 without any charges being filed (and the department did not give the Ethics Commission a reason why it did not file charges). Gaetz has consistently denied the allegations and used the Justice Department’s decision to argue that he had been “fully exonerated.”

Against that backdrop, the House Ethics Committee investigation has infuriated Gaetz, who claims former Speaker Kevin McCarthy pushed it behind the scenes. “It appears that the Ethics Commission’s interest in me waxes and wanes based on my relationship with the speaker,” Gaetz said in 2023. McCarthy, meanwhile, claims Gaetz pushed to oust him as speaker because he refused to do so Terminate the Commission’s investigation.

As a former chairman of the House Ethics Committee, I highly doubt that McCarthy had anything to do with this or any other congressional ethics investigation. In my experience, members of the House Ethics Committee must make their investigative decisions independently and in a bipartisan manner, free from any undue influence or conversations with congressional leaders.

It would be highly inappropriate for the committee to seek leadership from party leaders on these matters, and frankly, congressional leaders probably would not want to get involved in the complexities and minutiae of ethics investigations. You have enough headaches. It is better if colleagues handle such sensitive topics with the necessary discretion.

To mitigate the damage and anticipate the release of the ethics report, Gaetz acknowledged the potential embarrassment and expressed a measure of regret by

But carousing by exuberant, indiscreet young men does not justify congressional ethics investigations.

In fact, Gaetz was investigated, among other things, on allegations of having sex with a minor and paying her for it – while he was still a member of Congress. This is the crucial point: Gaetz’s alleged behavior occurred while he was in office. The Justice Department’s decision not to criminally charge Gaetz has little bearing on whether his alleged conduct met the standards of conduct for a sitting lawmaker. The ethics investigation was not a criminal investigation. The House Ethics Committee cannot charge anyone with a crime (although it can turn to the Justice Department if potential criminal wrongdoing is uncovered during its investigation).

As I argued in a previous column, it is unusual, although not unprecedented, for the House Ethics Committee to release a report or take further action after a member of Congress resigns. Typically, lawmakers who leave office because of a scandal do so abruptly — and then quietly work to repair family ties, rebuild their lives and restore their reputations. They don’t get high-profile nominations for Cabinet positions like U.S. Attorney General. In this case, of course, President-elect Donald Trump selected Gaetz as attorney general during the ongoing House investigation, which resulted in Gaetz resigning from Congress. After intense backlash, Gaetz withdrew his name from consideration just eight days after it was announced.

In my view, the circumstances of the Gaetz affair justify a certain level of transparency and justify the publication of the report after his resignation.

Imposing most sanctions on a sitting member of Congress requires a vote by the full House of Representatives. With Gaetz out of Congress, the House is unlikely to take further action — unless Gaetz rescinds his resignation, which seems unlikely since he has already accepted a new job as anchor of the conservative network One America News.

In any case, the speculation is finally over. Grab some eggnog, find a comfortable spot, read the report for yourself, and make your own judgment. Merry Christmas.