Joel Leppard: A Representative of the Orlando Area, and the Report of a Senate Investigation of the Ethics Committee for a Man-in-the-Mirror

Joel Leppard, an attorney who represents two women who testified before the House Committee on Ethics, told NPR that his clients were among a group of four or five young women in the Orlando area who knew Gaetz and met up with him in 2017 and 2018. He said the people who testified that they attended sex parties with Gaetz were members of the House.

Gaetz, who led the charge to oust former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, alienated many of his fellow House Republicans for launching the chamber into weeks of chaos as they sorted out whom to elect speaker. McCarthy openly said Gaetz was trying to end the ethics probe and that the committee needed to complete its work.

The committee heard from one of the clients that witnessed Gaetz having sex with a minor. The woman also detailed how Gaetz paid them — with Venmo and PayPal, with notations and dates for each occasion.

Texas Sen. John Cornyn told reporters that he would like to see the whole record regarding Gaetz and expect the ethics report to come out in some form. The report and records of the investigation were requested to be handed over by the current chair of the panel.

After meeting behind closed doors for about two hours Wednesday, panel Chair Michael Guest, R-Miss., told reporters “there was not an agreement by the committee to release the report.”

The committee will revisit the issue in a meeting on Dec. 5, after the Ranking Member Susan Wild said there was no consensus on the issue.

Wild said that a vote was taken. “As many of you know, this committee is evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans — five Dems, five Republicans — which means that in order to affirmatively move something forward, somebody has to cross party lines and vote with the other side … that did not happen in today’s vote.”

The Report of Speaker Mike Johnson and the Gaetz Investigative Committee on Investigations of House Members Who No longer Served on the Subcommittee

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., warned that releasing the report violated the panel’s practice of not publicly revealing any information about probes of lawmakers who were no longer House members, saying it would open “Pandora’s box.”

The speaker will not have a say in the decision of the committee, according to the chair. We will make an independent decision when we meet.

The report should be released to the Senate, as we have done in the past with other reports, said Wild, the top Democrat on the panel.

The former House ethics attorney told NPR that there are examples of the panel releasing their reports after members have left. They usually don’t.

He added: “I fear the process surrounding the Gaetz nomination is turning into an angry mob, and unverified allegations are being treated as if they are true. I have seen this movie before.” He did not mention that he would vote for Gaetz, but he called for his colleagues not to join the “lynch mob” and give him the chance to make his case.

On Tuesday, Trump was asked if he was reconsidering Gaetz’s nomination. Several Republican Senators argue Trump won the election and deserves to install the people he wants in top Cabinet positions.