The Hitchhiker’s Guide to potentially releasing the Ethics Committee report on Gaetz

Fox News has been told for several days now that the House Ethics Committee no longer has any jurisdiction over former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla. 

Gaetz resigned Wednesday after President-elect Donald Trump picked him to serve as attorney general.

The ethics panel was planning on releasing its report investigating allegations of sexual misconduct and alleged drug use by Gaetz, but the panel canceled its meeting Friday, and no report has appeared.

House Ethics Committee Chairman Michael Guest, R-Miss., said the following on Wednesday when asked about the Gaetz inquiry.

“Once the investigation is complete, then a report will be issued. Assuming that at that time, that Mr. Gaetz is still a Member of Congress. If Mr. Gaetz were to resign because he is taking a position, with the administration, as the Attorney General, then the Ethics Committee loses jurisdiction at that point. Once we lose jurisdiction, there would not be a report that would be issued. That’s not unique to this case,” said Guest.

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That is generally how the Ethics Committee has rolled when it comes to outstanding ethics investigations involving former members.

However, it is not a hard and fast rule.

Fox News has found that the Ethics Committee released the findings of its probe into potential influence peddling by the late Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., after his death in 2010.

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The Ethics Committee also released a 699-page report on former Rep. Bob Boner, D-Tenn., after he left office in 1987. The committee found that Boner used campaign funds to travel to Hong Kong and may have used his office to influence a defense contractor.

That said, there is a way on the floor to dislodge an Ethics Committee report.

There is a device called “question of privileges of the House.” A lawmaker could get to the floor under this procedure and make the argument that keeping the Gaetz ethics report under wraps impugns the dignity and integrity of the House. The House would be required to vote on such a motion. If successful on the floor, the ethics panel could be compelled to release the report.

Yours truly asked House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., Friday morning if Democrats might try to dislodge the Gaetz report from the Ethics Committee.

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Pergram: “Could you envision a scenario where Democrats try to somehow dislodge this ethics report through a parliamentary maneuver?”

Jeffries: “The Ethics Committee is an incredibly bipartisan committee. It’s the only committee in the Congress that is evenly divided. And it has a long history of having principled individuals on it. And I defer at this moment to whatever course they decide to take. And I hope they take a course that is bipartisan.”