Former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) on Monday filed a lawsuit in opposition to the Home Ethics Committee in a last-minute try to dam the panel from releasing its report on the Florida Republican.
Gaetz, who resigned from Congress final month, filed the lawsuit as a number of shops reported on leaked drafts of the Ethics Committee’s report, which CNN and CBS say discovered “substantial evidence” that the ex-congressman violated Home guidelines or Florida state legal guidelines that prohibit prostitution, statutory rape, illicit drug use, impermissible items, particular favors or privileges and obstruction of Congress.
The panel is predicted to publicly launch the report as early as Monday.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court docket in Washington, D.C., asks a choose to situation an emergency order blocking the report’s launch.
Gaetz claims the committee is performing past its authority as a result of it has no jurisdiction over him now that he has resigned from Congress. Gaetz’s attorneys stated the report comprises “untruthful and defamatory information” that may “significantly damage” his repute.
“The Committee’s apparent intention to release its report after explicitly acknowledging it lacks jurisdiction over former members, its failure to follow constitutional notions of due process, and failure to adhere to its own procedural rules and precedent represents an unprecedented overreach that threatens fundamental constitutional rights and established procedural protections,” Gaetz’s attorneys wrote.
The swimsuit names the Ethics Committee and its chair, Rep. Michael Visitor (R-Miss.), as defendants.
Spokespeople for the Ethics Committee and Visitor didn’t instantly reply to The Hill’s request for remark.
Whereas the Ethics Committee doesn’t have jurisdiction over former members of Congress, there may be precedent to the panel releasing the report on ex-lawmakers — although it’s uncommon. In 1987, for instance, the committee launched its report into former Rep. William Boner (D-Tenn.) after he resigned from the Home.
The authorized motion might be the ultimate battle for Gaetz within the years-long investigation into the firebrand Republican. Earlier than the Ethics panel resumed its investigation, the Division of Justice had investigated Gaetz for intercourse trafficking and whether or not he had intercourse with a 17-year-old woman. The DOJ in 2023 declined to cost Gaetz with against the law.
Gaetz has repeatedly denied having intercourse with a minor and different wrongdoing, and pointed to the dearth of fees as a way of discrediting the Ethics panel investigation.
“These claims would be destroyed in court — which is why they were never made in any court against me,” Gaetz informed The Hill on Monday.
The Ethics Committee continued investigating Gaetz after the DOJ declined to cost the Florida Republican, probing allegations of sexual misconduct, illicit drug use, accepting improper items, meting out particular privileges and favors to people with whom he had a private relationship and in search of to hinder authorities investigations of his conduct.
In a prolonged assertion posted on X final week, after information broke that the panel reversed course and voted to launch its report into Gaetz, the ex-congressman defended his conduct, saying it was “embarrassing, though not criminal.”
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