Donald Trump’s attorney-general pick Matt Gaetz arrives at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Nov. 20.Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
A congressional ethics committee has not agreed to release a report on alleged sexual misconduct by Matt Gaetz, president-elect Donald Trump’s attorney general pick, because it is deadlocked along partisan lines, the panel’s top Democrat said on Wednesday.
“At this point there has been no agreement to release the report,” House of Representatives Ethics Committee chair Michael Guest told reporters.
Wild spoke after the House of Representatives Ethics Committee, which is evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats, met to decide whether to share the findings of its probe. The panel voted along partisan lines and the report will not be released, Wild said. The committee will meet next on Dec. 5, she said. It was not clear whether the panel would take action before then.
Gaetz, 42, resigned his House seat last week, hours after Trump tapped him to lead the Justice Department, raising questions in Congress about the future of the panel’s investigation into allegations that Gaetz had sex with a 17-year-old girl. Some Senate Republicans have called for details of the probe to be released.
The Justice Department that Trump wants Gaetz to lead conducted its own three-year investigation into allegations of sex trafficking by the then-lawmaker, which produced no criminal charges.
The Justice Department also brought two criminal cases against Trump after he left office in 2021, neither of which went to trial.
Gaetz met on Wednesday with Senate Republicans, who have the power to confirm or block him from office.
Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee, which will vote on the nomination, on Wednesday asked the FBI to turn over its investigative file on Gaetz. The former lawmaker has said federal prosecutors informed him in 2023 that they would not seek criminal charges against him after nearly three years of investigating sex trafficking allegations.
Gaetz was joined by Vice President-elect JD Vance as he met with Republican lawmakers. Senator Mike Lee said the allegations of Gaetz having had sex with a 17-year-old would be troubling if proven true, but noted the Justice Department did not charge Gaetz despite a lengthy investigation.
“That’s a crime. I would imagine that would be of significant concern with a lot of people,” Lee said after meeting with Gaetz.
“Whether he has the votes, that remains to be seen,” Lee said. “That’s going to have to depend on how the hearing goes.”
Both Gaetz and Trump deny all wrongdoing. Trump has described the four criminal cases he faced as politically motivated attempts to stop him from returning to power.
The U.S. Senate, which Republicans will control by a majority of at least 52-48 next year, will determine whether to confirm Gaetz, who has never worked in the Justice Department or served as a prosecutor at any level of government.
He is one of a growing list of Trump nominees who lack the resumes typically seen in cabinet heads and who in some cases hold grudges against the agencies they have been tapped to run.
A handful of Senate Republicans have either called on the House panel to share findings of its investigation into Gaetz, or expressed skepticism about his qualifications. A hardline Republican, Gaetz helped orchestrate the ouster of Republican Kevin McCarthy as House speaker last year, a move that threw the chamber into chaos for weeks.
Trump has begun calling Republican senators to underline his commitment to Gaetz, according to a Republican donor with knowledge of Trump’s actions, who was granted anonymity to discuss intraparty tensions.
“He will be held to account in the confirmation process. He deserves his chance to make his argument why he should be attorney general,” said Senator Lindsey Graham, the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee that would be tasked with evaluating Gaetz’s nomination. “I think Matt is a very, very smart guy, and these allegations will be dealt with in committee.”
The committee’s top Democrat, Senator Dick Durbin, said in the letter to the FBI signed by his colleagues, “The grave public allegations against Mr. Gaetz speak directly to his fitness to serve as the chief law enforcement officer for the federal government.”