House Votes 357-65 to Block Public Release of Misconduct Reports
The House on Wednesday decisively rejected an effort by Rep. Nancy Mace to force public disclosure of internal investigations into allegations of sexual harassment and improper relationships between members of Congress and their staff.
In a 357-65-1 vote, lawmakers moved to refer Mace’s resolution to the House Ethics Committee — a procedural step that effectively ends the push for now. Thirty-eight Republicans and 27 Democrats broke with leadership to oppose the referral, voting instead to advance Mace’s measure.
The resolution would have required the Ethics Committee to make public, within 60 days, “all reports, including any conclusions, draft reports, recommendations, attachments, exhibits, and accompanying materials,” related to investigations into alleged sexual harassment or sexual relationships with staff. The proposal specified that personally identifiable information of victims or alleged victims would be redacted.
Mace framed the effort as a transparency measure aimed at ending what she described as a culture of secrecy surrounding misconduct investigations on Capitol Hill.
“Congress has been sweeping this under the rug for far too long. Tony Gonzales may be the latest example, but he’s not the only one,” Mace said earlier this week. “Staff deserve to come to work without being harassed by their bosses. Women deserve to be safe. And the American people deserve to know when their so-called ‘representative’ is abusing power instead of serving their constituents. No more hiding. No more excuses. It’s time to end the cover-up and drag the truth into the light.”
“Any Member who votes against this resolution is voting to protect the cover-up instead of the victims,” she added. “Nobody in Congress gets to play by a different set of rules. We are going to shine a light on every single case this committee has been sitting on.”
The Ethics Committee announced Wednesday morning that it had formally opened an investigation into the allegations against Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-TX), one day after his Texas primary election determined he will advance to a runoff in May. House rules prohibit the committee from taking certain actions against members within 60 days of an election.
Shortly before the vote on Mace’s resolution, the Ethics Committee publicly opposed the measure, warning it could undermine its investigative work.
The panel said the proposal “could chill victim cooperation and witness participation in ongoing and future investigations.” It added that House Resolution 1072 “could have a negative impact on the Committee’s ability to investigate and eliminate sexual misconduct in the House” and urged lawmakers to refer the matter back to the committee.
House rules prohibit members from engaging in a sexual relationship with a staffer in their personal office or on a committee they serve on, and bar sexual harassment of staff. The prohibition on sexual relationships with staff was added in 2018 amid the national “Me Too” movement.
While certain substantiated cases are publicly disclosed, the Ethics Committee is not required to release every complaint or investigative document it reviews.
Mace argued that her resolution would not endanger victims, noting that it mandated redactions of personally identifiable information.
“It’s not just the investigations that have concluded. It’s ones that are ongoing right now, and quite frankly, I don’t give a damn. So this has been a hidden secret for a long time,” she said.
Beyond the floor vote, Mace has sought additional transparency measures. During a House Oversight Committee hearing Wednesday, she successfully advanced by voice vote a motion to subpoena the Office of Congressional Workplace Rights for records of certain settlements paid under the Congressional Accountability Act prior to December 2018. The subpoena would apply only to settlements involving members of Congress, not staff, following an amendment offered by Oversight ranking member Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., which limited disclosure but required reporting on total settlement amounts involving nonmembers.
Before a 2018 law change, the Office of Congressional Workplace Rights was not required to publicly disclose the names of settling offices in misconduct cases. Since then, names of offices involved in settlements must be published online.
Wednesday’s vote underscores broad bipartisan reluctance to force wholesale public release of investigative materials, even as calls for greater transparency continue to reverberate across Capitol Hill.
'Guilty Of Fraud' - Hammer Dropped On Former First Lady Jill Biden During Live Fox News Segment
McEnany Accuses Jill Biden Of Misleading Americans About Debate Performance
Posted July 15, 2026
Former White House press secretary and Fox News host Kayleigh McEnany accused former first lady Jill Biden of misleading the American public about President Joe Biden’s condition following his widely criticized debate performance during the 2024 campaign.
McEnany made the remarks Thursday during an appearance on Fox News Channel’s “America’s Newsroom,” where she reacted to comments Jill Biden reportedly made in her upcoming book regarding the president’s performance during the debate that ultimately intensified questions about his age and fitness for office.
The discussion began when co-host Dana Perino referenced remarks Jill Biden made immediately following the debate.
At a campaign event after the debate, Jill Biden praised her husband’s performance.
“Joe, you did such a great job. You answered every question,” she said at the time.
Perino contrasted those comments with more recent claims attributed to Jill Biden and raised questions about the apparent inconsistency.
“So now we know that this is what she’s saying in her book,” Perino said. “And the question I would love to ask her is where are you lying then or now?”
McEnany responded by arguing that Jill Biden’s reaction following the debate was inconsistent with her more recent descriptions of the event.
“It’s a great question,” McEnany said.
“That is not the reaction of someone who believes they just watched their husband have a stroke. It is an absolute lie.”
McEnany then accused the former first lady of concealing concerns about the president’s condition from voters.
“It was fraud,” she said.
“What she did fraud on the American public and she’s continuing it by saying she had never seen him like that before or after.”
The debate between Biden and President Donald Trump became a turning point in the 2024 election cycle, with many Democrats publicly expressing concern about Biden’s performance and his ability to continue his campaign.
Questions about Biden’s age and mental sharpness had circulated for years, but the debate intensified those concerns and fueled calls from some Democrats for him to step aside.
During the Fox News discussion, McEnany referenced comments previously made by veteran journalist Carl Bernstein regarding Biden’s condition behind the scenes.
“Dana, you all remember Carl Bernstein, who said he talked to people who knew Joe Biden, loved Joe Biden, supported Joe Biden, and they were adamant that what we saw was not a one-off,” McEnany said.
According to McEnany, Bernstein reported that individuals close to Biden had observed similar episodes before the debate.
“They said it had happened 15 or 20 times prior, him losing his train of thought,” she said.
McEnany also cited a fundraiser Bernstein reportedly described.
“He described a fundraiser where he froze up and seemed to have some type of rigor mortis,” she said.
“This is not something that was a one-off.”
McEnany argued that concerns about Biden’s condition were widely known among those close to him.
“This was well known,” she said.
She then questioned why Jill Biden continued publicly defending her husband following the debate.
“So why did she keep up with the fraud on the American people?” McEnany asked.
The former first lady has repeatedly defended her husband and rejected claims that she or members of his inner circle concealed concerns about his health, Breitbart News reported.
The debate over Biden’s condition became one of the defining political stories of the 2024 election cycle and continued after he ultimately left the race.
McEnany’s comments reflect ongoing scrutiny surrounding what Biden’s family, advisers and top Democratic officials knew about his condition and when they knew it.
Neither Jill Biden nor representatives for the former president immediately responded to McEnany’s latest remarks.
As new books and accounts from those involved continue to emerge, questions surrounding Biden’s final campaign and the decisions made by those closest to him remain a major topic of political debate.
