John Cornyn wants to see results of House Ethics probe on Matt Gaetz

A U.S. Senator from Texas and member of the Senate Judiciary Committee wants answers as to what the House Ethics Committee has on U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz.

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn said he “absolutely” wants full disclosure on the House probe, which was expected to be released formally this week before the Panama City Beach Republican’s abrupt resignation from this Congress and the next. Though the investigation has paused, a version of the document is already widely expected to leak.

It could go further still, being prominently introduced to the evidentiary process.

Cornyn told reporters Thursday there “should not be any limitations on the Senate Judiciary Committee’s investigation, including whatever the House Ethics Committee generates.”

Even if there is not a formal report, the Senate panel could request or subpoena draft copies of the report and other documentary evidence associated with the unresolved charges hanging over Gaetz, complicating his appointment even before a full Senate floor hearing.

Gaetz resigned from Congress this week after President-elect Donald Trump selected him to be Attorney General.

The House Ethics Committee inquiry was still probing whether Gaetz engaged in sexual misconduct or illegal drug use, and whether he granted special favors to romantic interests.

In June, Gaetz proclaimed his innocence in matters declared resolved.

“The House Ethics Committee has closed four probes into me, which emerged from lies intended solely to smear me,“ Gaetz posted on X. “Instead of working with me to ban Congressional stock trading, the Ethics Committee is now opening new frivolous investigations. They are doing this to avoid the obvious fact that every investigation into me ends the same way: my exoneration.”

In June, the committee lamented the “difficulty in obtaining relevant information from Representative Gaetz and others,” but suggested an exhaustive review of evidence, including conversations “with more than a dozen witnesses … 25 subpoenas and (review of) thousands of pages of documents in this matter.”

The allegations go back to a widely reported sex scandal involving Gaetz that stemmed from a probe of crimes by former Seminole County Tax Collector and Gaetz associate Joel Greenberg.

The New York Times in March 2021 first reported on a Justice Department investigation into whether Gaetz had ever illegally sex-trafficked a minor across state lines. But federal prosecutors in February of 2023 ultimately decided not to charge Gaetz with any crime.

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Jacob Ogles of Florida Politics contributed to this report.