Matt Gaetz v the ethics committee; The Economist, December 23, 2024

The Economist; Matt Gaetz v the ethics committee

"On december 23rd a congressional committee released a lurid 37-page report alleging ethical misconduct by Matt Gaetz, the former maverick member of the House of Representatives who briefly stood as Donald Trump’s nominee for attorney-general. In a different time the investigation’s details about illicit sex and drug use would definitively end Mr Gaetz’s political career, and perhaps it will now. Yet he could soon test how far deviance has been defined down in America’s norm-smashing political era."

Matt Gaetz Withdraws from Attorney General Consideration amid Ethics Scandal; National Review, November 21, 2024

JAMES LYNCH , National Review; Matt Gaetz Withdraws from Attorney General Consideration amid Ethics Scandal

"Former Representative Matt Gaetz (R., Fla.) is withdrawing his name from consideration to be President-elect Donald Trump’s attorney general, he announced Thursday.

Gaetz said that the Ethics Committee investigation into allegations he paid underage women for sex had become too much of a distraction as President-elect Trump works to staff his incoming administration."

‘Black mark’: Lawmakers seethe over Ethics’ Gaetz report imbroglio; Politico, November 20, 2024

JORDAIN CARNEY, NICHOLAS WU, DANIELLA DIAZ and OLIVIA BEAVERS, Politico ; ‘Black mark’: Lawmakers seethe over Ethics’ Gaetz report imbroglio

"Matt Gaetz is plunging the House into chaos, again.

Members of the House Ethics Committee deadlocked over whether to release the findings of an investigation into the former Florida lawmaker, who is Donald Trump’s pick for attorney general. The inaction is triggering outrage among Democrats, who argue the committee is dragging out the process, while Republicans remain furious that Gaetz put them in this position...

The havoc is the latest illustration of how Trump’s looming return to Washington is shaking the foundations of Capitol Hill and forcing Republican lawmakers to make a series of immediate, high-stakes calls about the integrity of the legislative branch."