House Speaker Mike Johnson said on Friday that he does not think the House Ethics Committee report on allegations related to Matt Gaetz should be released and is “going to strongly request that the Ethics Committee not issue the report.”
The former Florida congressman, who is President-elect Donald Trump’s choice for attorney general, resigned his seat in the House when Trump announced that he was going to nominate him to serve in the role. Gaetz has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.
“I do not. No, I think it’s a terrible breach of protocol,” Johnson said when asked by reporters if he thinks the report should come out.
The speaker said he planned to talk to House Ethics Committee Chairman Michael Guest about the situation.
“I will talk to him and anybody else. I’m going to try to reach him. I’ve been a bit busy,” he said, noting he got back from Mar-a-Lago late last night.
Asked if he would respect the panel’s decision if the Ethics Committee chose to share the report with the Senate Judiciary Committee, Johnson replied, “I’m going to strongly request that the Ethics Committee not issue the report.”
“That is not the way we do things in the House, and I think that would be a terrible precedent,” he said.
Pressed about whether the public had the right to more information about the allegations now that Trump has picked Gaetz to serve as his attorney general, Johnson responded, “the rules of the House have always been that a former member is beyond the jurisdiction of the ethics committee, and so I don’t think that’s relevant.”