President-elect Donald Trump said Tuesday that he’s standing by his controversial attorney general pick Matt Gaetz, even as the allegations intensify against the former Florida congressman of having paid for sex, and some Senate Republicans say there is little chance he’ll be confirmed.
When asked by reporters if he’s rethinking his choice of Mr. Gaetz to head the Justice Department, the president-elect simply replied, “No.”
Mr. Trump’s comment came in Brownsville, Texas, where he attended the SpaceX ‘Starship’ launch with the company’s CEO, Elon Musk.
Despite Mr. Trump standing his ground, the controversy surrounding Mr. Gaetz has grown while his path to confirmation is narrowing.
It was revealed Monday that two women told the House Ethics Committee that Mr. Gaetz paid them for sex multiple times and one of them witnessed the Republican congressman having sex with a friend who was 17 years old at the time. The information was unveiled by Orlando-based attorney Joel Leppard, who is representing the two women.
Mr. Gaetz has long denied wrongdoing, saying the allegations against him are part of a “deep state” plot to torpedo him as one of Mr. Trump’s most effective advocates on the Hill.
Mr. Leppard said his clients are coming forward to put pressure on the House to release the contents of an ethics investigation into whether Mr. Gaetz engaged in sex trafficking, illicit drug use, dispensed special privileges and accepted improper gifts.
Mr. Gaetz was also the center of a sex trafficking investigation by the Justice Department, but the case has been closed and prosecutors declined to bring charges.
Last week, Mr. Gaetz officially resigned from Congress after Mr. Trump’s announcement, leaving it uncertain whether the House Ethics Committee would ever release its final report.
Mr. Trump has been reaching out to senators asking them to give Mr. Gaetz a shot and arguing that he’s the best candidate to overhaul the Justice Department, Sen. Kevin Cramer, North Dakota Republican, told reporters on Monday.
“That was kind of the whole conversation,” Mr. Cramer said. “He’s the disrupter that the department needs. That’s the bottom line. And he doesn’t know that anybody else really will be.”
Senate Republicans remain skeptical, however. Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa told reporters on the Hill Monday that confirmation was “an uphill climb.”
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.
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