Matt Gaetz grudgingly withdraws 'moot' legal complaint to block ethics report
Former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) is withdrawing a motion for a restraining order on the release of a House Ethics Committee report into his alleged misconduct — as it has already been released and the issue has been made moot.
The original complaint was filed earlier today after it became evident the committee planned to release it, and as the media were beginning to obtain details of the report's contents.
"Due to the Defendant’s unprecedented and procedurally defective decision to publicize the Report that was the subject of Plaintiff’s Motion for a Temporary Restraining Order without notice to Plaintiff and while Defendants’ knew or reasonably should have known of this pending action, Plaintiff has now suffered irreversible and irreparable harm," Gaetz's legal team wrote in their new motion. "As such, Plaintiff concurs that the instant action has been mooted and the Court now lacks subject matter jurisdiction to order the previously requested relief."
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The ethics report, which was the focus of a weekslong controversy and internal bickering among members of Congress, particularly Republicans, on how to respond to it, outlines "substantial evidence" that he "regularly paid women for engaging in sexual activity with him" between 2017 and 2019, and that he “violated House Rules, state and federal laws, and other standards of conduct prohibiting prostitution, statutory rape, illicit drug use, acceptance of impermissible gifts, the provision of special favors and privileges, and obstruction of Congress.”
Gaetz has consistently denied all allegations against him, claiming they were part of a shakedown against his family. The Justice Department independently investigated these issues, but while one of Gaetz's associates took a guilty plea in a sexual misconduct scheme, Gaetz himself was never criminally charged.
The controversy surrounding the report was enough to make Gaetz withdraw from consideration to serve as President-elect Donald Trump's attorney general, as he appeared to lack the votes among Senate Republicans to be confirmed.