House Ethics Committee secretly voted to release Matt Gaetz report

The House Ethics Committee secretly voted to release a report on its investigation of sexual misconduct and illicit drug use allegations against former Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz, NBC News reported Wednesday.

The report could be released as soon as the end of this week, after the House casts its final votes of the current Congress and gavels out for the holidays, two sources familiar with the matter told NBC.

The bipartisan ethics committee deadlocked last month on whether to release the report in light of Gaetz's resignation from Congress.

Gaetz left the House after President-elect Donald Trump picked him to serve as U.S. attorney general. But Gaetz withdrew less than two weeks later as his bid was overshadowed by allegations of past sexual misconduct and other impropriety, all of which he has denied.

CNN first reported the vote to release the Gaetz report. A spokeswoman for Ethics Chair Michael Guest, R-Miss., referred CNBC to a committee spokesperson who declined to comment. The Ethics panel's ranking Democrat, Rep. Susan Wild of Pennsylvania, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Gaetz, in an X post later Wednesday morning, railed against the vote.

"House Ethics will reportedly post a report online that I have no opportunity to debate or rebut as a former member of the body," Gaetz wrote.

"In my single days, 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," he wrote.

"My 30's 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. I live a different life now," he wrote.

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