After reviewing private correspondence between Representative Matt Gaetz (R., Fla.) and an unnamed source, the Daily Beast reports that Gaetz’s intraparty coup to remove former speaker Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.) had much more to do with the Californian’s ethics probe into Gaetz than it did with Gaetz making a principled stand for conservative policy goals — the pope is also Catholic (though that might actually be a surprise to some).
"In the communications, Gaetz singled out McCarthy individually for reviving an Ethics Committee probe against him, and he indicated that his animus toward McCarthy was over that investigation," said the report. "The beleaguered Florida congressman’s anger over the revived probe was so strong that he rode his resentment all the way to a history-making vote to remove McCarthy, steamrolling the majority of his GOP colleagues concerned that his vanity project would cause serious, long-term damage — and he did so with his signature Gaetz grin."
Meanwhile, the probe continues…
Sources told ABC News that in recent days, in addition to focusing on possible lobbying violations by Gaetz, the Ethics Committee has reached out to witnesses who were questioned as part of the Justice Department's sex trafficking investigation into the Florida congressman.
The House probe into Gaetz's conduct was reopened last July after the Ethics Committee initially deferred its investigation at the request of the Justice Department, which conducted its own years-long probe that concluded without charging Gaetz in 2023.
CNN suggests it was the (then) 17-year-old herself whom they contacted:
The House Ethics Committee investigating Rep. Matt Gaetz has reached out to the woman whom the congressman allegedly had sexual relations with when she was a 17-year-old minor, according to a source familiar with the committee’s work.
The outreach, which has not previously been reported, is a sign that the GOP-led committee’s investigation into the Florida Republican has recently expanded to include questioning around allegations of sex crimes.
Now that the DoJ has concluded their investigation, the House Ethics Committee is free to continue:
The committee deferred its investigation at the request of the Justice Department, which was simultaneously probing the allegations, but resumed its work in after the DOJ concluded its investigation without bringing charges.
A source familiar with the House panel’s work previously told CNN that the Justice Department’s decision not to bring charges against Gaetz does not impact what the committee will and won’t investigate. The committee plans to examine the same allegations they were looking into when they opened the investigation in 2021, the source told CNN.
Gaetz is feeling the heat, and I suspect McCarthy will enjoy any comeuppance.