House Speaker Mike Johnson said he has not discussed the House Ethics Committee’s report on sexual misconduct allegations against Matt Gaetz, Trump’s pick to be the next attorney general, with President-elect Donald Trump.
Prime Minister Johnson, who initially said he had no role in the process, has opposed the report’s release, and CNN’s Jake Tapper said Sunday that it was due to pressure from President Trump to quash the report. I asked the chairman if this was the case.
“The president and I have literally never discussed a single word about the ethics report. I’ve been with him quite a bit this week,” Johnson said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
Johnson asked the Ethics Commission to withhold the report on Thursday, shortly after returning from a visit to Mar-a-Lago with President Trump. The chair objected to the release of the report, given that Gaetz had resigned and was no longer a sitting member of Congress.
“My understanding is that the report was not yet complete, it was in draft form, and not yet ready for release. Now that Matt Gaetz has left Congress, it would not be appropriate for it to be released. I think so,” Prime Minister Johnson said on Sunday.
“I don’t think you want the House Ethics Committee to investigate Jake Tapper or any other private citizen. You are not a member of that body,” the Speaker added.
Some background: The Ethics Committee was scheduled to vote on releasing the report last week, ahead of President Trump’s announcement about Gates.
Democrats have since pushed to release the report, and some Republican senators have said they want to see it before considering confirming Gaetz as attorney general.
There is some precedent for lawmakers breaking standard protocol and releasing ethics reports after they have left Congress. A House committee published it in its 1987 report on Congressman Bill Bonner, and a Senate committee published it in its 2011 report on the senator. Lieutenant John.
Watch Johnson’s interview below.
Johnson tells Tapper why House of Commons Ethics Committee report on Gaetz should not be released
