Former Representative Matt Gaetz suggested that he could “go after” his “former colleagues in Congress” the day before the House Ethics Committee report came out.

Gaetz made his comments Sunday afternoon at Turning Point USA’s “AmericaFest” event in Arizona, according to The Hill.

“My fellow Floridians have asked me to eye the governor’s mansion in Tallahassee, maybe [be appointed as] special counsel to go after the insider trading for my former colleagues in Congress. It seems I may not have had enough support [to be confirmed as Attorney General] in the United States Senate. Maybe I’ll just run for Marco Rubio’s vacant seat in the United States Senate and join some of those folks,” Gaetz said.

READ MORE: Gaetz Rages at Secret Vote to Release Ethics Report, Insists He Was ‘Fully Exonerated’

This is not the first time Gaetz has suggested he might retaliate against the House. Last week, he suggested on X (formerly Twitter) that since he was elected to the new Congress—despite resigning the position when incoming President Donald Trump initially named him as his pick for Attorney General—he could participate in the vote for House Speaker.

“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 members) 5. Resign and start my @OANN program at 9pm EST on January 6, 2025,” he wrote, alongside a “thinking” emoji. 

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

There are reports other Republican representatives are working to make Gaetz’ threat a reality, according to Politico. Though Politico did not name which representatives were involved, one potential Gaetz ally is Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), who backed his threat on X, according to Newsweek.

“If Congress is going to release one ethics report, they should release them all. I want to see the Epstein list. I want to see the details of the slush fund for sexual misconduct by members of Congress and Senators. I want to see it all,” she wrote.

The House Ethics Committee report released Monday found that while the claims that Gaetz violated sex trafficking laws were unsubstantiated, other accusations against him were supported by evidence. The report says the committee found evidence that Gaetz paid thousands of dollars for sex; violated Florida’s statutory rape law; used cocaine, ecstasy and marijuana illegally; violated the rule on accepting gifts from lobbyists; gave friends special privileges and favors; and tried to obstruct the committee’s investigation.

Gaetz sued in an attempt to block the release of the report, claiming the committee no longer had jurisdiction.  Gaetz denied the allegations.

“Once released, the damage to Plaintiff’s reputation and professional standing would be immediate, severe and irreversible, particularly because: a. The Committee’s findings would carry the imprimatur of official Congressional action; b. Media coverage would be immediate and widespread; c. The allegations would permanently remain in the public record,” Gaetz’ attorneys wrote in the suit, according to Deadline.

The committee said that a majority of its members had voted that the release of the report was still in the public interest despite Gaetz’ resignation from Congress.

Image via Shutterstock

Though President Joe Biden commuted all but three sentences for those on federal death row, he ignored the four men on military death row.

On Monday morning, the White House announced that Biden had commuted the sentences of 37 of the 40 people on federal death row to life imprisonment. The move comes as incoming President Donald Trump has vowed to resume federal executions.

“Make no mistake: I condemn these murderers, grieve for the victims of their despicable acts, and ache for all the families who have suffered unimaginable and irreparable loss,” Biden said in a statement. “But guided by my conscience and my experience as a public defender, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Vice President, and now President, I am more convinced than ever that we must stop the use of the death penalty at the federal level. In good conscience, I cannot stand back and let a new administration resume executions that I halted.”

READ MORE: ‘Pro-Life’ Texas Lawmaker and Pastor Files Bill Making Abortion ‘Homicide’ and Punishable by the Death Penalty

Biden said the exceptions he made were in cases of “terrorism and hate-motivated mass murder.” The three people to remain on death row are Dylann Roof, the man who killed nine at the Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina; Robert Bowers, the Tree of Life Synagogue shooter; and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the Boston Marathon bomber.

As commander-in-chief, the president also has commutation power over those on military death row. Those four people are: Ronald Gray, who raped and murdered two women, and attempted to rape and murder a third; Hasan Akbar who killed two and injured 16 soldiers in an attack on Camp Pennsylvania in Kuwait during the Iraq invasion; Timothy Hennis, who was originally acquitted in state court for the murder of three in North Carolina, but was tried again in military court for the crime and convicted; and Nidal Hasan, who killed 13 at Fort Hood in Texas in an attempt to help Islamic insurgents, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

If Biden chose to apply his criteria to the military death row, it’s likely that only Hasan would remain. Akbar, though he attempted to kill a large number of people, was not driven by hate, according to the BBC. Instead, Akbar said he suffered from mental illness, and his father said Akbar had faced harassment due to his race and religion.

Though Biden has so far declined to commute these sentences, none of these four men is necessarily in imminent danger of being executed. The U.S. military has not executed a prisoner since 1961.

Image via Shutterstock

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) is losing support following last week’s funding crisis. But coming into the impending vote for a new speaker, Democrats have said they won’t help him like they did last time.

The new session of Congress is about to start, and on January 3, the House will vote for who should lead the chamber. In the past, it was nearly a sure thing that a sitting speaker whose party maintained control of the House would be reelected. But Johnson has always had a tenuous grasp on the position. Following the ouster of former Republican Speaker Kevin McCarthy by the far-right wing of the party in November 2023, it took over three weeks for the House to agree on Johnson.

That vote was along party lines—but even still, Johnson was not solidly in position. Last May, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) filed a motion to remove him as speaker, but it failed, thanks in part to Democrats vowing to support him, according to Axios.

READ MORE: ‘Hell No!’: Democrats ‘Unified’ Against Reworked Funding Bill More Favorable to Trump

While Democratic support at that time was based around Johnson’s support for a Ukraine aid bill, that relationship has faltered after he abandoned his support of a bipartisan federal funding package last week. That fight also lost him favor with incoming President Donald Trump, as the Trump-preferred version of the package also failed. Trump was “upset”, according to Trump insiders speaking anonymously to Politico.

So far, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) is the only Republican to come out and say he’s not voting for Johnson. But other Republicans say they’re undecided, with Rep. Troy Nehls (R-Texas) telling Axios it would be up to Democrats to save Johnson.

“If Mike Johnson wants to continue to be the speaker, he’s going to have to get Democrats to support him. Otherwise, it will be tough for him,” Nehls said.

Johnson himself appears to not be optimistic about keeping the speakership. He asked Elon Musk if he wanted the position, according to Newsweek. Though the speaker of the House has traditionally been chosen from the sitting congresspeople, there is no law saying the speaker cannot be an outsider. During the fight that ultimately lead to Johnson winning the position in November 2023, Nehls was pushing for Trump to get the gig.

The House cannot function without a speaker. In the event of a protracted fight for the position, the House will be unable to pass any legislation.

Image via Reuters