UPDATE (June 18, 2024, 10:23 a.m. ET): The House Ethics Committee has now confirmed that it’s reviewing allegations that Rep. Matt Gaetz may have “engaged in sexual misconduct and illicit drug use.”)
It was early last year when Rep. Matt Gaetz learned that the Justice Department, which had been investigating him in a sex trafficking investigation, would not bring criminal charges against the Florida Republican. That was the good news for the far-right GOP congressman.
The bad news for Gaetz, however, was that he still had to contend with an investigation from the House Ethics Committee. In fact, as Politico reported, the Floridian suggested this week that he’s now facing a “new” ethics probe.
Rep. Matt Gaetz claimed Monday the House Ethics Committee has opened “new” investigations into him, which he called “frivolous.” … Gaetz has maintained his innocence through multiple ethics inquiries and alleges the panel is using investigations against him as retribution for spearheading the ouster of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy last fall.
“This is Soviet,” Gaetz added, failing to elaborating on the details.
Without more information, it’s difficult to assess these “new investigations” that the Republican referred to. That said, the news suggests things have gone from bad to worse for the incumbent lawmaker.
Longtime readers might recall that the Ethics Committee launched a probe into Gaetz two years ago; though earlier this year, ABC News reported that the panel was still examining possible lobbying violations, as well as details surrounding the sex trafficking investigation.
As my MSNBC colleague Ja’han Jones noted soon after, Gaetz responded to the developments by lashing out at the committee’s chair, Republican Rep. Michael Guest of Mississippi.
It’s difficult to speculate as to what, if anything, the panel will conclude. But for Gaetz’s critics on Capitol Hill (of which there are many), the Ethics Committee’s examination is of great interest.
As recently as last fall, Fox News raised a few eyebrows with a report that said House GOP members were “preparing a motion to expel” Gaetz. The report didn’t include any on-the-record comments, and it wasn’t independently verified by other news organizations, but it raised the prospect of a provocative move against a member with a limited number of friends, even on his side of the aisle. Two months later, USA Today published a related report, adding that Gaetz “continues to draw the ire of his Republican colleagues … and some of his detractors have privately floated expelling him from Congress.” All things considered — the number of months remaining before the elections, the vanishingly small advantage House Republicans enjoy in the chamber, etc. — it’s difficult to imagine House Republicans voluntarily choosing to shrink their ranks again, but the scuttlebutt served as a timely reminder that the Gaetz investigation is among the most closely watched processes on Capitol Hill. If the congressman’s online missive is correct, that investigation is intensifying. This post updates our related earlier coverage.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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