Congress
Democrat launches push to force release of the Gaetz ethics report
Rep. Sean Casten isn’t giving up on his quest to see the House Ethics Committee’s investigation into Matt Gaetz, despite the former Florida representative withdrawing from consideration for attorney general.
Casten took to the floor Tuesday to introduce a new privileged resolution that would force the release of the latest version of the ethics report. House leaders will have two legislative days to schedule a vote, which would only be successful if Casten gets a majority of the House to approve it.
“Withholding this report from the American people would impede the dignity and integrity of the legislative proceedings of the House,” Casten said in a statement Tuesday.
Many Republicans, including Speaker Mike Johnson, were opposed to releasing the report even while Gaetz was a pending nominee. Some GOP senators at the time expressed interest in seeing the conclusions. Now that Gaetz has withdrawn, more GOP lawmakers have said the matter should be over and the report should not be published. That means Casten’s resolution has long odds at passing.
Johnson’s office did not respond to a request for comment on the new resolution. He had previously said he didn’t think the Ethics Committee should release reports about former members.
The House Ethics Committee is due to meet Thursday to discuss next steps after declining to release the Gaetz report earlier in November. The report details investigations into several claims, including that Gaetz had sex with a minor. Gaetz has denied any wrongdoing.
Casten’s resolution states that the House “shall immediately release the latest draft of its report and a summary of its findings to the public, including any conclusions, draft reports, recommendations, attachments, exhibits and accompanying materials, with such redactions as may be necessary and appropriate to protect sensitive information” regarding the Gaetz probe.
The Illinois Democrat formally filed his initial motion to force the report’s release on Nov. 20, telling Blue Light News at the time that “we as the House have an obligation to make sure that that information gets released.” Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) filed a similar measure.
Gaetz took himself out of consideration to be Trump’s attorney general shortly after it became clear he faced long odds of confirmation in the Senate. Still, it’s possible Gaetz could play another role in the Trump administration that’s not subject to Senate confirmation, and Casten and others argue the information should still be made public, especially given the years of work that went into the Ethics Committee investigation.
Daniella Diaz contributed to this report.
The campaign finance arm of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee is curtailing online contributions to House Democrats who voted to cut Israel aid this week, in the latest rift between the party and the influential advocacy group.
As of Friday afternoon, an online portal for AIPAC’s political action committee removed donation buttons for more than a dozen House Democrats from a page that lists incumbents who “stand with Israel.”
The members now listed without donation buttons include Reps. Katherine Clark of Massachusetts, the No. 2 House Democrat; Joe Neguse of Colorado, another member of leadership; and Rep. Pat Ryan of New York, who renounced AIPAC money after the vote.
“AIPAC members are deeply appreciative of their representatives who stand on principle and are disappointed by those who don’t,” AIPAC spokesperson Deryn Sousa said in a statement to Blue Light News.
The move is further evidence of a major shift in AIPAC’s political relationship with House Democrats. Ahead of the midterms, several hard-left progressive candidates have toppled incumbents in primaries after hammering them for accepting AIPAC money, leaving many Democrats to conclude that ties to the pro-Israel group are politically toxic.
According to a snapshot from the Internet Archive, the donation buttons were active as recently as July 6. At that point, the portal also included praise for former Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California.
“We thank Congresswoman Pelosi for her support for the U.S.-Israel relationship,” a caption on the portal read on July 6 after noting Pelosi is not running for reelection. As of Friday, the thank you was gone — as was a thank you to Pelosi’s fellow California Democratic Rep. Julia Brownley.
Spokespeople for the House Democrats did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
On Wednesday, more than 100 House Democrats voted for an amendment to a State Department funding bill that would have cut U.S. aid to Israel, marking a massive break in the party’s once unshakable support for the Jewish state. Many of those members cited frustration with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s handling of the war in Gaza. The amendment failed, with 98 Democrats including Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York opposing it.
Ryan posted on X Wednesday that he expected groups like AIPAC would no longer support his future campaigns and that “frankly, I don’t want their support.”
“Hardline stances that refuse to stand up to a corrupt and increasingly dangerous Netanyahu regime have no place in our politics,” he said.
A federal judge declared Friday that the Trump administration can’t cancel grants based on new rules or goals established after the fact — in a blow to its efforts to terminate billions of dollars already promised.
U.S. district judge Indira Talwani, an Obama appointee, denied the Trump administration’s request to dismiss a lawsuit brought by 20 states, three governors and the District of Columbia challenging the cancellation of billions of dollars in federal grant awards since President Donald Trump was inaugurated last year.
Federal law does not allow the “terminations of awards based on new program goals or agency priorities that an agency identifies after granting the award,” the court concluded.
The ruling comes as lawmakers in both parties, including Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins (R-Maine), urge White House budget director Russ Vought to delay plans to overhaul the approval process for federal grants. The Trump administration is proposing a new regulation that would put political appointee in charge of approving or mixing awards for federal dollars.
House GOP leaders released text Friday for a bill to fund the vast majority of the federal government from the start of the next fiscal year on Oct. 1 until after the midterm elections — bypassing the bipartisan appropriations process and daring Democrats to pick a shutdown fight months before voters head to the polls.
Speaker Mike Johnson said Thursday he plans to put the legislation on the floor next week.
The measure would fund the government through Dec. 4 and, as Republican leaders promised, would not include additional policy riders or unrelated provisions.
The text released Friday also does not include President Donald Trump’s top policy priority, the partisan elections overhaul and voter ID measure dubbed the SAVE America Act.
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