US House Speaker Johnson wants Gaetz ethics report kept secret

By David Morgan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson said on Friday that a congressional ethics panel should not release a report examining allegations of sexual misconduct against Matt Gaetz, President-elect Donald Trump's choice for U.S. attorney general.

Lawmakers of both parties on the Senate Judiciary Committee have said they want to see the unreleased House Ethics Committee report on Gaetz, as part of a Senate confirmation process for cabinet nominees that would start next year with public hearings.

"I'm going to strongly request that the ethics committee not issue the report, because that is not the way we do things in the House," Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, told reporters in the U.S. Capitol.

Gaetz, 42, who denies any wrongdoing, resigned from Congress on Wednesday, bringing the ethics probe to an end two days before the committee had been expected to release the document.

The former congressman faced a nearly three-year Justice Department investigation into sex-trafficking allegations involving a 17-year-old girl. His office said in 2023 he had been told by prosecutors he would not be charged.

Johnson said he planned to urge House Ethics Committee Chairman Michael Guest not to provide the Gaetz report to the Senate Judiciary Committee. "The rules of the House have always been that a former member is beyond the jurisdiction of the ethics committee," said Johnson, who returned on Friday morning from meeting Trump at the president-elect's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.

"I think it's a terrible breach of protocol and tradition and the spirit of the rule," he added. "I think that would be a terrible precedent to set."

Johnson's position marks an about-face from Wednesday when he told reporters that as speaker he could not be involved in deciding whether or not to release the report.

Gaetz is one of a series of nominees tapped by Trump this week who lack the resumes normally seen in candidates for high-level administration jobs.

He would need to be confirmed by the Senate - where Republicans will have a majority of at least 52 of the 100 seats - to get the post, and several Republicans so far have expressed skepticism about the choice.

(Reporting by David Morgan in Washington; Editng by Andy Sullivan and Matthew Lewis)