I suspect that the Federal crimes were tenuous, and that the states could bring action, so it's up to the states, or DV, wherever it happened.

If there were state crimes, the committee should release the report or make a referral so the appropriate states can take action. And even if the potential Fed crimes are tenuous, that would not be surprising, as the Ethics Committee isn't conducting a criminal investigation. They are merely looking at the ethics rules of the House and not criminal laws. If there is some evidence of a federal crime, the committee should make a referral to the DoJ so they can investigate further (if that hasn't been done already - I believe there was some kind of federal investigation previously).

In either case, releasing the report is the right thing to do. And if there was no evidence at all of anything untoward or unethical, they should release the report to clear Gatez' name.

This all gets back to what I should call the Nixon lesson: It's not about the crime, its about the coverup. Any crime is only on the perps who did the crime. The appearance of covering up a crime taints all who assist in the coverup, whether there is a crime or not.

I think the age for statutory rape should be 16 as the Euros do, not 18.

I'm sure there's an argument for that. But we're dealing with the laws as they stand now, not what anyone thinks they should be.

--Peter