Fox News Contributor Byron York Urges Release of Gaetz House Ethics Report, Citing Precedent and ‘Public Interest’
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Fox News contributor and Washington Examiner chief political correspondent Byron York added his voice Friday to the calls for the House Ethics Committee to release a report on the investigation into allegations against Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL).
Former and future President Donald Trump’s announcement that he intended to nominate Gaetz to head the Department of Justice sent shock waves this week even amidst breaking news about Trump’s other controversial nominees.
The firebrand from Florida’s deep-red Panhandle practiced law for only a short period of time, and has no prosecutorial or judicial experience. Gaetz has also burned many a bridge during his tenure in the House — shortening his list of potential allies in Congress — including instigating a plot that ousted former Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) from the speakership last year.
And then there is Gaetz’s reported entanglement in a sprawling series of schemes and crimes that led to a House Ethics Committee investigation on allegations that he “engaged in sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, accepted improper gifts, dispensed special privileges and favors to individuals with whom he had a personal relationship, and sought to obstruct government investigations of his conduct.”
Gaetz, who has denied all wrongdoing, announced he was resigning from his House seat Wednesday, in advance of a House Ethics meeting planned for Friday to vote on whether to release their report. Several prominent Republicans, including Senate Judiciary Committee member Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), have said the report should be released. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), on the other hand, said that he would “strongly request” that the committee not release it.
York put himself firmly on the side of releasing the report in a tweet Friday afternoon, arguing “It’s hard to imagine a case where release is more in the public interest.”
York wrote:
To many of you out there: The president nominates Congressman X to be attorney general. The opposition party, and some in the president’s party, oppose the nomination. A contentious confirmation hearing looms. Meanwhile, Congressman X, before abruptly resigning from the House, was the subject of an extensive investigation in the House Ethics Committee. There is a written report, which so far has not been released.
The opposition and some in the president’s party want the House report to be given to the Senate for the confirmation hearing. Have any of you ever watched a high-level contested confirmation hearing? The idea that the House report would somehow remain secret is just not realistic. Better for the House Ethics Committee to release it now. It might be no big deal. If that is the case, Senate Republicans will dismiss it and confirm Congressman X. But in any event, given the importance of the job involved — attorney general — it’s hard to imagine a case where release is more in the public interest.
That wasn’t York’s first comment on the matter. Earlier Friday, he mentioned Johnson’s opposition to the release of the report and pointed out a precedent from 1987, “when the Ethics Committee released a report after the House member who was the subject of the report resigned.”
He also tweeted about the draft report Thursday, noting there was “a belief that there is solid precedent for releasing a report if it is a matter of public interest.”
“Senators have already started asking for the report but cannot subpoena it,” York continued. “The committee would have to vote to release the report, and the chairman, GOP Rep. Michael Guest, has to bring the issue up for a vote. Committee is evenly divided 5-5 between parties, so if Guest calls a vote and all Dems vote to release, just one Republican has to join for it to be released.”
York’s colleague Brit Hume offered a one-word endorsement of his view, sharing his tweet:
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