House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) announced Wednesday that Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), President-elect Trump's nominee for attorney general, will resign from Congress “immediately.”
The resignation, announced hours after Gates received the attorney general's consent, means that Johnson will lose one House Republican seat to reduce the impact of next year's narrow Republican majority losing one lawmaker. He explained that this is a way to speed up the process of filling in the blanks.
But the bigger impact of his resignation is that it effectively ends the House Ethics Committee's investigation into Gaetz, which was in its final stages. The committee has no authority to investigate Gaetz because he is no longer a lawmaker, and its findings may never see the light of day. This will be a huge boon for Gates. Senate already skeptical.
“Once a member is no longer a member of Congress, ethics has no jurisdiction,” House Ethics Committee Chairman Michael Guest (R-Mississippi) told reporters Wednesday after receiving Attorney General Gaetz's nod. he said. “Therefore, if Matt Gaetz were appointed attorney general, any ongoing ethics investigation would cease at that point.”
The ethics committee was scheduled to meet Friday to vote on whether to release the report on Gaetz, a person familiar with the matter confirmed to The Hill. punch bowl news I reported on the first scheduled meeting. As of Wednesday night, the panel was scheduled to meet on Friday, sources said.
The Ethics Committee's investigation into Gates was halted after he left Congress, but the committee could vote to release its report after he leaves office. Although such moves are rare, there are some precedents. In 1987, the committee released a report against former Rep. William Bonner (D-Tenn.) after he resigned from the House.
The House Ethics Committee was investigating whether Gates was involved in charges including sexual misconduct and illegal drug use. The Congressional investigation into Gates began in 2021, shortly after reports emerged that the Department of Justice (DOJ) was investigating whether Gates had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl.
Gaetz has strongly denied allegations of wrongdoing, and the Justice Department has declined to charge him with any crime. Gaetz said in September that he would “no longer voluntarily participate” in the “redemptive” ethics investigation and would not respond to the subpoena, which requested a list of adult women with whom the committee had had sex in the past. he accused. 7 years.
Johnson said he did not know whether the Ethics Committee would release a report on Gates, given that it has no jurisdiction now that Gates is out of Congress.
Rep. Max Miller (R-Ohio), a vocal critic of Mr. Gates, told reporters early Wednesday that lawmakers were worried that the findings of Mr. Gates' ethics committee would be aired during his Senate confirmation hearing. He said he was looking forward to it.
“It's going to be very interesting to see what comes out. And a lot of us are looking forward to seeing what comes out because it could be used in a very good way.” said Miller, suggesting Gaetz could be expelled from the House.
Resigning could be risky for Gates. He still awaits Senate confirmation, but many in Congress are doubtful it will happen after many senators quickly expressed confusion about the nomination.
Johnson said Wednesday night that the Florida Republican has decided to leave the House early to speed up the process of replacing him, and that he hopes a replacement will be chosen by the time the new Congress is sworn in on Jan. 3. Ta. The majority is expected to be very thin next year, and it will become even thinner as President Trump continues to nominate House Republicans in his administration.
Johnson said Gaetz's decision to resign early “surprised us a little bit.” He said he called Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) on Wednesday to discuss plans to fill the vacancy. Florida law allows Mr. DeSantis to set a schedule for replacing House members through special elections.
“I think he has tendered his resignation from Parliament, effective immediately, out of respect for all of us,” Mr Johnson said. “That surprised us a little bit, but when we asked why, they said that under Florida law, you have about eight weeks to pick and fill in your absences, so you can't miss too many. I said, “Empty seat. “
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he was hopeful the seat would be filled by January 3, when the new parliament is sworn in.
“I've already called Governor DeSantis of Florida and said, let's start the clock. He's in Italy right now, so we're going to talk about this first thing in the morning. And let's start the clock now. “If you do the math, we might be able to fill that seat on January 3, when the new Congress takes its new oath of office,” Johnson said. As much as he made that decision on the spot, he did us a great service and I'm grateful for that. ”
Updated at 9:48 p.m.
