Following the abrupt resignation of Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz from the U.S. House of Representatives — shortly after he was nominated by president-elect Donald Trump to become the next U.S. Attorney General — Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Illinois) demanded that a report on Gaetz’s ethical conduct be preserved in order to allow the Senate to determine whether he should be allowed into that role.
In a series of posts on the social media site X, Durbin, who will become the Senate Judiciary Committee’s ranking member in January, said the report, compiled by the House Ethics Committee, would 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.”
“In light of Donald Trump’s selection of former Congressman Matt Gaetz to be his Attorney General, I am calling on the House Ethics Committee to preserve and share their report and all relevant documentation on Mr. Gaetz with the Senate Judiciary Committee,” Durbin wrote in his statement.
The ethics report was set to be made public on Friday. However, due to his immediate resignation upon being nominated by Trump, House norms dictate that his report will no longer be released, as he is no longer a member of that congressional chamber subject to its jurisdiction.
The House Ethics Committee investigation included allegations of Gaetz engaging in sexual misconduct as well as sharing inappropriate images and videos on the House floor and using campaign cash for personal items. (A previous Justice Department investigation into Gaetz also looked into his possibly having a sexual relationship with an underage person, though no charges were ever filed against him.)
Durbin also stated in his missive on X that Gaetz’s sudden departure from Congress also warranted answers.
“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 wrote. “We cannot allow this valuable information from a bipartisan investigation to be hidden from the American people.”
Several Republican lawmakers, familiar with Gaetz’s antics in the House that led up to his ethics inquiry (as well as his role in upending order in the House by calling for........