Republicans on ethics panel vote to block Gaetz report

By Sarah Ferris, Annie Grayer and Manu Raju, CNN

(CNN) — Republicans on the House Ethics Committee fell in line behind GOP leaders and voted not to release the results of their investigation into Donald Trump’s attorney general pick, Matt Gaetz, despite growing calls from the Senate GOP to make the findings public ahead of his confirmation hearing.

The GOP’s decision to block the findings — against the will of Democrats on the panel — raises major questions about what happens to the highly secretive information that the ethics panel has already collected on Gaetz.

The committee did vote to meet again in December, when Republicans on the panel hope to have a finalized report, according to two people familiar with the discussions. But until then, pressure is ratcheting up across the Capitol to release the contents of the report as Gaetz makes his case directly to GOP senators who will determine his future as attorney general. And with just weeks left to go in the current Congress, Democrats must now plot their next steps.

Some Democrats are trying to create his own pressure point: Democratic Rep. Sean Casten, who is close to House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, announced Wednesday that he would offer a privileged resolution to attempt to make the report public. Before he could, another Democrat, Rep. Steve Cohen, made a similar effort to pry loose the report through a floor vote.

Any House member can file a privileged resolution to force the ethics report to be released by saying it’s relevant to the “dignity and integrity” of the House – which gives the measure special powers to be considered. But it must still pass strict procedural rules to reach the floor.

If Cohen’s or Casten’s resolutions pass those procedural standards, then Speaker Mike Johnson will be forced to bring it to the floor within two legislative days. Privately, though, Democrats believe the GOP will block the measure from actually receiving a vote.

GOP Rep. Derrick Van Orden, who has a fraught relationship with Gaetz, said he would vote to release the report. It’s unclear if Democrats could get the 218 votes needed to release it, but Van Orden’s support shows how Gaetz’s turbulent relationship with his colleagues may come back to haunt him.

“I think it’s very important that everybody has as much knowledge as possible so that they can make an informed decision,” Van Orden said.

The Wisconsin Republican said his “personal feelings about Mr. Gaetz should have nothing to do with what’s going on here in the country, and that’s a big problem in our country, is that people are allowing interpersonal conflicts to affect their ability to legislate.”

Republicans could only afford to lose three GOP votes on a party-line vote, assuming all members are in attendance and voting.

In the meantime, the Ethics Committee will continue to work on its report, which the panel’s chairman, Rep. Michael Guest, has said isn’t complete. The status of the report was a major point of discussion in the two-hour meeting of the panel. While the investigation is complete, lawmakers of both parties have sparred over whether it is technically complete.

A majority of committee members agreed to have the report finalized by the panel’s next meeting on December 5, according to a source familiar, as some committee Republicans joined with Democrats on this vote.

However, committee Republicans voted against an effort to have the report both finalized and released on December 5, the source said. This means that members will be voting on whether to release the final report at their next meeting.

Rep. Susan Wild, the top Democrat on the committee, stressed that her party did not agree with Republicans’ decision not to release the report.

Guest said after the meeting that there was “not an agreement” on whether to disclose the findings.

Shortly after Guest’s comments, Wild spoke to reporters and said: “I do not want the American public or anyone else to think Mr. Guests’ characterization of what transpired today would be some sort of indication that the committee had unanimity or consensus on this issue not to release the report.”

“It comes to my attention that the Chairman has since betrayed the process by disclosing our deliberations within moments of walking out of the committee. He has implied that there was an agreement of the committee not to disclose the report. That is an untrue,” Wild said.

The Pennsylvania Democrat added that the panel will reconvene on December 5 to “to further consider this matter.”

Meanwhile, Republican Sen. John Cornyn — who has said he’d like to see the ethics panel’s report — said he told Gaetz when they met earlier Wednesday that “there are not going to be any secrets here.”

“Everything’s eventually going to come out,” said Cornyn, a senior Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, which will oversee Gaetz’s confirmation process next year.

This story has been updated with additional developments.

CNN’s Morgan Rimmer, Kit Maher and Veronica Stracqualursi contributed to this report

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