Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., is seen outside a meeting of the House Republican Conference in the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday, January 3, 2023.
Tom Williams | CQ-Roll Call, Inc. | Getty Images
The Senate Judiciary Committee asked the FBI on Wednesday for its “complete evidentiary file” of a prior investigation into the alleged sex trafficking of an underage girl by Matt Gaetz, who has been tapped as the next U.S. attorney general by President-elect Donald Trump.
The Judiciary panel’s request says that “the grave public allegations against Mr. Gaetz speak directly to his fitness to serve as the chief law enforcement officer for the federal government.”
The committee’s Democratic majority, in a letter to FBI Director Chris Wray, noted that Gaetz’s associate Joel Greenberg pleaded guilty in 2021 “to the sex trafficking charge for which Mr. Gaetz was also investigated.”
“The Senate has a constitutional duty to provide advice and consent on presidential nominees, and it is crucial that we review all the information necessary to fulfill this duty as we consider Mr. Gaetz’s nomination,” the letter says.
The Department of Justice ended its probe of Gaetz last year without filing charges.
The 42-year-old Republican, who until last week represented a Florida district in the House of Representatives, has denied all wrongdoing. If the Senate confirms him as attorney general he would lead the DOJ.
Gaetz is a Trump loyalist who became notorious in Congress for incendiary remarks and attention-grabbing actions.
The House Ethics Committee was investigating Gaetz for alleged sexual misconduct and other behavior until he resigned last week, removing him from the panel’s jurisdiction.
That committee convened behind closed doors on Wednesday afternoon to discuss its report about the Gaetz probe.
Ethics Chairman Michael Guest, R-Miss., said after that meeting, “There has been no agreement to release the report.”
He had told reporters earlier Wednesday that the report is not finished and “has not gone through the review process.”
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Gaetz’s selection by Trump as the nation’s top law enforcement officer has stoked outrage and panic from Trump’s critics and caused concern among some of his Senate allies, whose support is needed to confirm the nomination.
Trump has urged GOP senators to let him avoid the Senate confirmation process by allowing him to make recess appointments.
But Sen. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia — who is set to be the fourth-ranking Republican in the next Congress — predicted Wednesday after a “big discussion” with her colleagues that the push to bypass the Senate through recess appointments will lose steam.
“I think the issue of recess appointments will probably go away, and it won’t be an integral part of how the president’s going to get his Cabinet through,” Capito said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”
The U.S. Constitution gives the president the power to nominate various federal roles with the “Advice and Consent of the Senate,” meaning the legislative chamber votes to confirm them. The process often involves nominees answering questions from senators in open committee hearings.
But the Constitution also allows the president to fill vacancies that occur while the Senate is in recess. Doing so avoids the risk of a nominee being voted down by the Senate and prevents lawmakers from engaging in any delay tactics.
Other presidents have made use of that power, though even those that did so heavily — such as Bill Clinton and George W. Bush — did not make high-level Cabinet appointments without Senate approval, as Trump seeks to do.