by WorldTribune Staff, December 25, 2024 Real World News
The House Ethics Committee on Dec. 23 decided to release its report on former Rep. Matt Gaetz, accusing the Florida Republican of statutory rape and illicit drug use among other charges.
The committee released its report at a time when both the House and Senate were out of session.
If the Gaetz report can be made public, why is Congress able to continue to hide the identities of its members who used taxpayer dollars to resolve complaints of sexual harassment, racial discrimination, and other misconduct?
Kentucky Republican Rep. Thomas Massie has called on Congress to disclose which members forced taxpayers to cover the $17 million in settlements paid out between 1997 and 2017.
The fund was created under the 1995 Congressional Accountability Act. House and Senate negotiators in 2018 reached agreement to end the secret slush fund.
Members of Congress are now required to pay out of their own pockets settlements stemming from their bad behavior and those payoffs will supposedly be made public.
But the members who paid off their victims using taxpayer funds from 1997 to 2017 still remain shrouded in secrecy.
The details of those settlements are known only to the Congress member, the complainants, and the leaders of the House Administration Committee which approved the payouts.
“This entire list needs to be public!!!” Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene wrote on X.
Gaetz has repeatedly denied the allegations against him and blasted back against the Ethics Committee’s report: “These claims would be destroyed in court — which is why they were never made in any court against me.”
Someone suggested the following plan to me:
1. Show up 1/3/2025 to congress
2. Participate in Speaker election (I was elected to the 119th Congress, after all…)
3. Take the oath
4. File a privileged motion to expose every “me too” settlement paid using public funds (even of…— Former Congressman Matt Gaetz (@FmrRepMattGaetz) December 18, 2024
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The Gaetz precedent: Massie called for release of all ‘hush money records’ in Congress paid for by taxpayers added by Editor Two on
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