


Sens. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and John Cornyn (R-Texas) called Thursday for the House Ethics Committee to release the results of its investigation into former Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz’s conduct ahead of Senate considerations of President-elect Donald Trump’s planned nomination of Gaetz as attorney general.
Durbin, the current Senate Majority Whip and chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which will assess Gaetz’s nomination, cited Gaetz’s resignation from the House on Wednesday following his selection as a key reason for the disclosure of the House Ethics Committee’s materials on Gaetz.
“The sequence and timing of Mr. Gaetz’s resignation from the House raises serious questions about the contents of the House Ethics Committee report,” Durbin told reporters. “We cannot allow this valuable information from a bipartisan investigation to be hidden from the American people. Make no mistake, this information could be relevant to the question of Mr. Gaetz’s confirmation as the next attorney general of the United States, and our constitutional responsibility to advise and consent.”
By leaving Congress, Gaetz halted the committee’s probe into him ahead of a reportedly important meeting that might have set the stage for release of the committee’s report. The bipartisan ethics panel had been investigating Gaetz for alleged sexual misconduct, forbidden drug use, doling out “special privileges” to friends, and obstructing efforts to investigate his conduct.
Democracy In The Balance
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Cornyn, also a high-ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, made a similar comment to reporters on Thursday.
“I don’t want there to be any limitation at all on what the Senate could consider,” he said. Asked whether that included the House Ethics Committee’s report on Gaetz, he replied, “Absolutely.”