Gaetz sues Ethics Committee in last-minute bid to block release of report

Former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) on Monday filed a lawsuit against the House Ethics Committee in a last-minute attempt to block the panel from releasing its report on him.

Gaetz, who resigned from Congress last month, filed the lawsuit as several outlets reported on leaked drafts of the Ethics Committee’s report, which CNN and CBS say found “substantial evidence” that the ex-congressman violated House rules or Florida state laws that prohibit prostitution, statutory rape, illicit drug use, impermissible gifts, special favors or privileges and obstruction of Congress.

The panel is expected to publicly release the report as early as Monday.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Washington, asks a judge to issue an emergency order blocking the report’s release. 

Gaetz claims the committee is acting beyond its authority because it has no jurisdiction over him now that he has resigned from Congress. Gaetz’s attorneys said the report contains “untruthful and defamatory information” that would “significantly damage” his reputation.

“The Committee's apparent intention to release its report after explicitly acknowledging it lacks jurisdiction over former members, its failure to follow constitutional notions of due process, and failure to adhere to its own procedural rules and precedent represents an unprecedented overreach that threatens fundamental constitutional rights and established procedural protections,” Gaetz’s attorneys wrote.

The suit names the Ethics Committee and its chair, Rep. Michael Guest (R-Miss.), as defendants.

Spokespeople for the Ethics Committee and Guest did not immediately respond to The Hill’s request for comment.

While the Ethics Committee does not have jurisdiction over former members of Congress, there is precedent to the panel releasing the report on ex-lawmakers — though it is rare. In 1987, for example, the committee released its report into former Rep. William Boner (D-Tenn.) after he resigned from the House.

The legal action could be the final battle for Gaetz in the years-long investigation into the firebrand Republican. Before the Ethics panel resumed its investigation, the Department of Justice had investigated Gaetz for sex trafficking and whether he had sex with a 17-year-old girl. The DOJ in 2023 declined to charge Gaetz with a crime.

Gaetz has repeatedly denied having sex with a minor and other wrongdoing, and pointed to the lack of charges as a means of discrediting the Ethics panel investigation.

“These claims would be destroyed in court — which is why they were never made in any court against me,” Gaetz told The Hill on Monday.

The Ethics Committee continued investigating Gaetz after the DOJ declined to charge the Florida Republican, probing allegations of sexual misconduct, illicit drug use, accepting improper gifts, dispensing special privileges and favors to individuals with whom he had a personal relationship and seeking to obstruct government investigations of his conduct.

In a lengthy statement posted on the social platform X last week, after news broke that the panel reversed course and voted to release its report into Gaetz, the ex-congressman defended his conduct, saying it was “embarrassing, though not criminal.”

Developing.