House Speaker Mike Johnson has made matters worse for Rep. Matt Gaetz, according to former House Ethics Committee chairman Charlie Dent (R-PA), by getting involved in the release of a “pretty nasty” ethics report concerning Gaetz’s alleged sexual misconduct.
The Ethics Committee was preparing to release its findings on sex trafficking allegations against Gaetz when Donald Trump nominated the Florida congressman for attorney general. The report, which Johnson argued should not be released following Gaetz’s resignation from Congress, had been set to make waves. However, Dent believes Johnson’s interference only complicated the situation.
“I am certain that they looked at this case they reviewed it, they deposed all these various people, and I suspect that report is pretty nasty,” Dent told CNN, noting that it likely includes recommendations for sanctions such as reprimands or even expulsion, had Gaetz not resigned.
“I suspect they all were going to vote for [releasing] it prior to his resignation, so I think there’s a lot in there. I’m sure that the the report recommends sanctions of some sort – reprimand, censure, expulsion, in the worst cases – that’s moot now that he resigned. So that’s what they’re looking at, and they’re also, by the way, if the committee uncovers potential criminal wrongdoing, they can refer the matter to the Justice Department.”
Dent emphasized that Gaetz did not resign because he expected a favorable report, casting doubt on the speaker’s intervention. “Matt Gaetz did not resign because this report was going to be clean. So I suspect they did their job professionally and thoroughly, the committee, bipartisan basis, now they’re caught up over this issue of a post-resignation release, and that’s unfortunate. But I do think they’ll get to it and, by the way, I don’t think speaker Johnson did anybody any favors by running his mouth and saying this shouldn’t go public.”
Dent argued that Speaker Johnson should have respected the Ethics Committee’s independence rather than making a public statement about the report’s release.
“When I I got appointed to this committee the only thing John Boehner ever asked me to do is just make sure the committee functions – that’s it,”4Dent explained. He also noted that his successors, including Paul Ryan and Nancy Pelosi, took a similar hands-off approach.
“I never was involved in any of them ever trying to intervene or interfere with any type of an investigation or how we should go about it,” Dent concluded. “I don’t think Speaker Johnson did anyone any favors by commenting on this issue.”
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