Ethics report could sink Gaetz’s nomination for attorney general

A looming House Ethics Committee report could torpedo ex-Rep. Matt Gaetz’s chances of getting confirmed as President-elect Donald Trump’s attorney general.

Mr. Trump nominated Mr. Gaetz, Florida Republican, on Wednesday for the position that would oversee the Justice Department — an announcement that shocked lawmakers from both parties. Some Republicans in the Senate are already saying they won’t confirm his nomination.

Mr. Gaetz has faced a sex-trafficking investigation by the very department he would oversee.

The federal investigation started during Mr. Trump’s first White House stint and looked into Mr. Gaetz and Joel Greenberg, a Republican who was the tax collector in Florida’s Seminole County, for allegedly paying underage girls or giving them gifts in exchange for sex.

The investigation ended with Greenberg being sentenced to 11 years in prison in 2022 and Mr. Gaetz facing no charges.

The House Ethics Committee, however, launched its own probe.

The panel was reviewing allegations that Mr. Gaetz, 42, engaged in sexual misconduct, accepted improper gifts, dispensed special privileges or engaged in illicit drug use.

Mr. Gaetz repeatedly has denied all wrongdoing and resigned on Wednesday, quashing a looming Ethics Committee vote on the charges. But senators say they want to see the report before they vote on his nomination. 

Senate Judiciary Chairman Richard J. Durbin, Illinois Democrat, said in a statement Thursday that “the sequence and timing of Mr. Gaetz’s resignation from the House raises serious questions about the contents of the House Ethics Committee report.”

“We cannot allow this valuable information from a bipartisan investigation to be hidden from the American people,” he said. “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 of advice and consent.”

When asked about what could damn Mr. Gaetz from getting confirmed to the attorney general position, Rep. Chip Roy, Texas Republican, said that because he’s not privy to the Ethics Committee investigation and the Justice Department has closed its investigation, “there’s nothing” really against Mr. Gaetz right now.

“There’s a nominee and he’ll go before the Senate and they can raise whatever questions they want to raise, but I think Matt, he’s drawn the ire of the Left and the attention because he’s a disrupter and he’ll challenge the Department of Justice, take them head-on,” he said.

Mr. Roy said he thought the goal of Mr. Gaetz resigning was to “clear the decks.”

House Ethics Committee Chairman Michael Guest, Mississippi Republican, said Wednesday the probe would end with Mr. Gaetz’s resignation since the committee would no longer have jurisdiction.