Burcum: Release House ethics report on Rep. Matt Gaetz

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The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is a powerful law enforcement agency that falls under the U.S. Department of Justice’s oversight umbrella. As the nation grapples with an opioid drug abuse epidemic claiming about 82,000 overdose deaths annually, the DEA’s mission of battling drug trafficking and enforcing controlled substance laws is vital to the public’s health and safety.

Given that reality, Americans deserve to know if the man tapped by President-elect Donald Trump to lead the DOJ as the nation’s next attorney general is himself an illicit drug user.

That’s a key reason why Congress should make public the results of a lengthy U.S. House Committee on Ethics investigation of former Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz’s alleged drug use and other alleged misconduct as soon as possible. If Gaetz, R-Fla., is guilty of breaking drug laws, as he stands accused, how can he be trusted to enforce criminal statutes as the nation’s chief law enforcement officer?

Even among questionable choices Trump has made for his second-term Cabinet, Gaetz’s nomination stands out as especially disturbing. The drug-use allegations are just one type of misconduct under scrutiny.

“On and off since 2021, the secretive House Ethics Committee has investigated Gaetz over various allegations, including the claim that he had sex with an underage girl, used illicit drugs, accepted bribes, misused campaign funds and shared inappropriate images on the House floor,” according to a recent BBC report.

The committee’s findings had been expected imminently. That suddenly changed when Trump nominated Gaetz as attorney general and Gaetz abruptly resigned his House seat. That decision derailed the report’s release.

“What I have said with regard to the report is that it should not come out. And why? Because Matt Gaetz resigned from Congress. He is no longer a member,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., on CNN. “There’s a very important protocol and tradition and rule that we maintain that the House Ethics Committee’s jurisdiction does not extend to nonmembers of Congress.”

However, this “protocol” isn’t a hard and fast rule, Fox News reported Friday, citing two examples of the committee releasing findings on two House members after they died or left office.

The ethics committee is set to meet Wednesday amid calls to release its findings. One option would be sharing it with the U.S. Senate, whose members will vote to confirm Gaetz’s nomination. While that’s better than keeping the committee’s conclusions under wraps, the public deserves full transparency from its lawmakers.

Taxpayer dollars funded the investigation. The document shouldn’t be kept secret from those who footed the bill, especially when the findings can inform the nation of whether Gaetz has the requisite character and temperament to serve in such a consequential position.

“Normally you’d hold onto your seat until you get confirmed, but [Gaetz] just resigned because he doesn’t want that report out, which means that report probably has some stuff in it that isn’t favorable‚” said Richard Painter, who served as the White House’s chief ethics lawyer during the George W. Bush administration from 2005 to 2007. Painter is now a professor at the University of Minnesota law school.

During an interview, Painter underscored the need for attorneys general to be people of “impeccable” character and credentials.

“The Department of Justice is the prosecutorial arm of the executive branch. They decide to prosecute people or to not prosecute people and that’s extraordinary power,” Painter said. “That alone means that you need to have someone in charge who will do justice and who, without regard to political affiliation or race or religion or anything other than the law and the facts ... makes their decisions about prosecutions.”

There should be no hesitancy in sharing this information with the public. Doing so is especially critical given the current push to get around the Senate confirmation process through “recess appointments.” If that happens, the public will have no window into the report’s findings that a confirmation hearing would provide.

Hackers may also have accessed a file with damaging testimony about Gaetz, the New York Times reported Tuesday. That information allegedly involves information about Gaetz having sex with a 17-year-old.

Leaks like this suggest the information will emerge one way or the other. The committee’s full, professional report with its details and context would much better serve Gaetz and the public.

Minnesota Congresswoman Michelle Fischbach, a Republican who represents a vast swath of western Minnesota, is currently one of 10 U.S. House members serving on the ethics committee. Sydney Kashiwagi, the Star Tribune’s Washington correspondent, reported in the newspaper’s Morning Hot Dish newsletter Tuesday that Fischbach declined to comment on whether the Gaetz report should be released. She also declined comment on Gaetz’s qualifications for the office of attorney general.

Transparency and leaders of good character are essential to good government. It’s disappointing to see Fischbach take a pass on scrutinizing highly alarming allegations against a would-be attorney general.

Another Minnesotan in Congress, Tom Emmer, who represents the state’s Sixth District, has already congratulated Gaetz on X (formerly Twitter), saying that the former lawmaker will make an “outstanding” attorney general.

If that’s the case, then there should be no problem releasing the committee’s findings. Emmer, who was recently re-elected to his House leadership post, should back up his assessment of Gaetz’s character and credentials with evidence, and wield his considerable influence to make the report swiftly available to the public.