WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. House Ethics Committee has voted to release its report on former Republican Representative Matt Gaetz, CNN reported on Wednesday, saying the panel’s findings could be made public within days as Congress prepares to adjourn for the holidays.
The committee’s probe centered on allegations against Gaetz of sexual misconduct with a teenage girl and drug use. Gaetz resigned from Congress in November after Donald Trump tapped him to be his attorney general, a bid the former lawmaker later dropped.
The Ethics panel met earlier this month and voted secretly to release the report, CNN reported, citing multiple unnamed sources familiar with the matter.
Earlier this month, the Republican-majority House of Representatives blocked an effort to expedite the report’s release after the panel deadlocked over whether to make it public.
Gaetz, who has denied all wrongdoing, could not immediately be reached for comment, nor could the Ethics panel.
Gaetz has said he would not return to take his seat in the next session of Congress convening in January. Instead, the Florida Republican is set to host a show on One America News Network, according to the television network.
(Reporting by Susan Heavey with additional reporting by Ismail Shakil; editing by Rami Ayyub)
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