CNN has confirmed that a House panel took a secret vote to release the ethics report on former Congressman Matt Gaetz. You'll remember that investigation looked into allegations of sexual misconduct, drug use and possible bribes. It is now set to be made public. This investigation soon. [00:00:18] We are told that this report is expected to be made public once this session of Congress ends and lawmakers leave Washington to return home. The House Ethics Committee has reversed their decision, and now they plan to release their ethics report detailing their investigation [00:00:38] into former Congressman Matt Gaetz, who did resign from Congress after Donald Trump had chosen him to serve as his attorney general. But when it became abundantly clear that he wasn't going to pass the smell test, he wasn't going to get through those Senate confirmation hearings, [00:00:57] he decided to withdraw his, you know, ability to even go through that process and serve potentially as Trump's attorney general. Now, look prior to the House Ethics Committee reversing their decision back in November, the panel actually voted to not release [00:01:16] the results of their investigation. And what did they investigate exactly? Well, allegations of sexual misconduct, illicit drug use, sharing inappropriate images and videos on the House floor. There were literally Republican colleagues of his who were [00:01:33] complaining about it to the press. Misuse of state identification records, using campaign funds for personal use and or accepting bribes, improper gratuity or impermissible gifts. So those were all the different things that they investigated or looked into [00:01:50] as part of this, you know, House Ethics Committee report. And we don't know what they found at all, but we're about to find out. Okay. So they haven't released it yet, but apparently they are planning on releasing it soon. So during the time of the original vote, gates was actually still in the running [00:02:10] to be Trump's attorney general, and he hadn't resigned from office immediately. But when he did resign as a lawmaker, you know, there were a lot of rumors flying around about why he did it. Like, is Matt Gaetz stepping down [00:02:26] from his role as a Florida lawmaker in order to prevent the House Ethics Committee from releasing that report? And the reason why that rumor exists is because the House Ethics Committee doesn't have jurisdiction over a former member of Congress, right. [00:02:43] They only have jurisdiction over a current sitting member of Congress. But it turns out, doesn't mean that they can't release the report. And it looks like they do want to release the report. And look, something that's become abundantly clear to me in regard to Matt Gaetz and, his personal dynamics within Congress [00:03:02] is that a lot of people hated him. Now, do I think they hated him for these misconduct allegations? Hell no. I mean, how many instances have we reported where a lawmaker did something super shady, and especially on the right, they do have the tendency [00:03:20] to circle the wagons, circle the wagons. But there's something about Matt Gaetz that really rubs Republicans the wrong way. In addition to Democrats, obviously, but with Republicans, I think it has to do with some of the areas in which Matt Gaetz did the right thing. [00:03:38] Okay. And he is a mixed bag. Okay. There's some likelihood that these, you know, sexual misconduct allegations against him are damning. We have no idea. We have to wait and see. But putting that aside, his, support of doing away with junk fees, [00:03:54] you know, he lauded the FTC under the leadership of Lina Khan for doing that. That was one of the more recent examples. He has tried to pass anti-corruption bills. He has tried to pass legislation, along with progressive lawmakers that would ban members of Congress from trading individual stocks. [00:04:13] All the corrupt politicians know like that. They know like that. And so Matt Gaetz has kind of been congressional enemy number one. And now it's really becoming clearer that that's been the case. So with that in mind, there was also a full House vote [00:04:31] to try to force the report's release. But, you know, previous to all of this, it failed due to one Republican who actually voted against releasing it and ultimately sending it back to the ethics panel this month. But that's when it seems some Republicans, for whatever reason, changed their minds. [00:04:50] And so ultimately, they did decide that they're going to release this report. It remains unclear how the panel, which is made up of five Republicans and five Democrats, voted. You know, how many Republicans voted in favor of this? How many, you know, did any Democrats vote against it? [00:05:07] I doubt it, but you never know. But Matt Gaetz obviously wasn't happy with this news and took to social media, X in particular to kind of rant about what's going on. He says. I was charged with nothing. Fully exonerated, not even a campaign finance violation. And the people investigating me hated me. [00:05:24] I believe him on that last part. I do think they hated him. I've had no chance to ever confront any accusers. I've never been charged. I've never been sued. Instead, House ethics will report will reportedly post a report online that I have no opportunity to debate or rebut. [00:05:41] As a former member of the body in my single days, this is where it gets juicy. I often sent funds to women I dated, even some I never dated, but who asked? I dated several of these women for years. I never had sexual contact with someone under 18. [00:05:59] So let me pause there for a second. I get that paying for sex work is still considered illegal. But I don't. If he did do that, if he paid a sex worker to be intimate with. [00:06:17] I don't care about that. I think. I think sex work should be legalized and regulated, mostly because I think sex workers should be kept safe and a lot of them are not safe because of the fact that it's illegal and they get exploited by Johns, [00:06:32] they get exploited by, you know, pimps or whatever. And so I think the best path forward is actually legalizing it and regulating it and ensuring that people who decide to willingly obviously engage in sex work have certain protections. [00:06:47] That's where I stand on that issue. So for me. Matt Gaetz paying someone for for sex, an adult who consents to it, I don't have a problem with, but I do have a problem. If there's any evidence indicating that he slept with someone underage, he's denying it. [00:07:03] But again, we have to wait and see what this report says. Finally, he says, any claim that I have, that I have would be destroyed in court. Which is why no such claim has ever made. Has was never made in court. [00:07:18] And then he says, my 30s were an era of working very hard and playing hard too. It's embarrassing, though not criminal, that I probably partied Womanized drank and smoked more than I should have earlier in life. [00:07:33] I live a different life now, so the report is expected to be made public as soon as this week, though the exact date is unknown. And if anything is worthy of talking about from that report on this show, [00:07:48] we will certainly do that. We'll see what it says. I mean, he says he's innocent. It seems like there are people who are really out for him. And so that's got to have some damning information. If there's been like this whole, you know, hot potato, do we release it, do we not release it situation happening in Congress. [00:08:06] - So we'll wait and see. - Thanks for watching the video guys. We also love it if you hit the join button below because that makes you a member. And members allow us to be independent, honest. We can be as progressive as we want, no corporate media influence. And that's all because of you guys. We love doing the show with our members. Hit the join button and become one of the Young Turks.