House Speaker Mike Johnson has voiced strong opposition to the release of a bipartisan House Ethics Committee report allegedly detailing misconduct by former Representative Matt Gaetz, who recently left Congress.
Speaking to reporters at the Capitol on Friday, Mr Johnson criticised the idea of making the report public, saying, “That is not the way we do things in the House, and I think that would be a terrible precedent to set.”
He also indicated that he would make his concerns known to the committee’s chairman, Michael Guest of Mississippi, who expressed a reluctance to release the findings.
Mr Johnson emphasised his stance by stating, “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.”
On Wednesday, President-elect Donald Trump announced that Mr Gaetz would serve as his attorney general.
The House Ethics Committee was reportedly on the verge of publishing its investigation into Mr Gaetz’s conduct when he suddenly resigned from Congress on Wednesday.
While the Ethics Committee had been working on the report for some time, its release became even more controversial following Mr Gaetz’s sudden departure.
His resignation came just as he was under increasing scrutiny, including an investigation into possible involvement in a sex trafficking scandal, which he vehemently denied.
