The House Ethics Committee said the panel met Thursday to discuss former Rep. Matt Gaetz, but declined to release any details.
“The Committee is continuing to discuss the matter. There will be no further statements other than in accordance with Committee and House Rules,” the panel said.
Ethics Chair Michael Guest (R-Miss.) declined to comment on the meeting but said he’d vote against a last-ditch effort by Democrats to force the release of the report. The panel’s top Democrat, Rep. Susan Wild (D-Pa.), wasn’t at Thursday’s meeting, though Guest brushed off her absence and said “it’s not uncommon” for members to not be able to attend.
Guest said the panel would meet again this year. Wild’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
While the Florida Republican was President-elect Donald Trump’s original pick for attorney general, Gaetz withdrew from consideration as it became clear he didn’t have the votes to be confirmed in the GOP-controlled Senate.
The evenly divided panel deadlocked on releasing the the report detailing their investigation into Gaetz in a late November meeting. Since then, Democrats have stewed over the decision, though his withdrawal from attorney general consideration tempered some lawmakers’ concerns about the report.
