Oh No, Not a Precedent to Release Any and All Congressional Reports on Sex Crimes, Not That, Please

There has been some bitter disagreement in Congress over the potential release of a House Ethics Committee report on now-former Rep. Matt Gaetz. The report, which apparently delves into the accusations and witness statements about Gaetz having sex with a minor, seems to have led the Florida rep to first resign from Congress in order to quash the committee investigation, and then on Thursday to withdraw from Donald Trump’s nomination for Attorney General.

Aside from the Gaetz-specific wrangling going on here, there are now multiple House members making the argument that if this report is in fact made public, or even sent to the full House floor for a vote, then that should trigger the investigation and reporting on some nebulous collection of other sex crimes apparently lurking behind Congressional doors. To which any reasonable citizen should say: Oh god no, please don’t.

“If you release this report, then you know, what’s good for the goose is good for the gander,” said Texas Republican Chip Roy. “Let’s start talking about releasing other reports.” Oh Heavens no. Not that. Not the terrible precedent of potentially holding elected officials accountable for being sex pests of various stripes.

“I think that would be a valid move,” agreed Alabama representative Barry Moore. “I mean, if they’re gonna try to dig up that sort of stuff, why not?” Why not? WHY NOT?? It feels ridiculous to even have to answer such a question, Barry.

According to Talking Points Memo reporter Emine Yücel, these and maybe other members of the House Freedom Caucus are “screaming payback” if the Gaetz report makes its way to the House floor for a vote on its release. Georgia Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene waxed downright poetic about the vicious threats at play here: “If we’re going to dance, let’s all dance in the sunlight,” she said on an area billionaire’s propaganda website, threatening further release of files relating to Jeffrey Epstein and to other sexual assault and harassment claims. “[P]ut it ALL out there for the American people to see.”

The threats to the Republic are obvious here. Heaven help us if all that and more were to be made public, theoretically taking down or at least unleashing some sort of consequence on some substantial number of people inside the U.S. government who have possibly committed some non-zero number of sex crimes. The horror. The horror.