Former Rep. Matt Gaetz filed a lawsuit Monday against the House Ethics Committee seeking an emergency temporary restraining order to try and stop the release of its damning investigation into his alleged sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, arguing its release would prompt “immediate and widespread” media coverage.
Gaetz filed the lawsuit after denying allegations published in a leaked draft of the report ahead of its official release in full.
He railed against the committee’s intentions to release its report “after explicitly acknowledging it lacks jurisdiction over former members, its failure to follow constitutional notions of due process, and failure to adhere to its own procedural rules and precedent represents an unprecedented overreach that threatens fundamental constitutional rights and established procedural protections.”
The former rep. argues in the 40-page filing that if the report were made public, there would be “immediate, severe and irreversible” damage to his reputation.
He also asserted that “media coverage would be immediate and widespread” if the report was made public.
Gaetz resigned from Congress on Nov. 13, hours after President-elect Donald Trump tapped him to be the next US attorney general, but sexual misconduct allegations from the congressional ethics probe and an earlier Justice Department investigation eventually led to him withdrawing his nomination.
The 42-year-old has denied all allegations against him.
