Matt Gaetz, JD Vance meet privately with Senate Republicans to build support for attorney general nomination
Washington — Former Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz met with senators on Capitol Hill on Wednesday as he seeks to shore up support for his nomination for attorney general amid calls for the House Ethics Committee to release a report on allegations he engaged in sexual misconduct and illicit drug use.
Accompanied by Vice President-elect JD Vance, a senator from Ohio, Gaetz sat down with Republican senators, whose votes will be crucial in confirming him to the position of the nation's top law enforcement officer next year. The GOP is set to take control of the Senate in the next Congress and hold 53 seats, but Gaetz will need backing from a majority of the chamber to win confirmation.
President-elect Donald Trump announced Gaetz as his pick for attorney general last week, after which the Florida Republican resigned his seat from Congress. But the selection and Gaetz's resignation came two days before the House Ethics Committee was poised to meet and vote on whether to make public its report detailing the findings of its long-running investigation into allegations Gaetz engaged in sexual misconduct and illicit drug use.
The Republican has denied wrongdoing and called the Ethics probe a "smear." He has blamed the investigation on former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, whom Gaetz helped oust last year. Alex Pfeiffer, a spokesman for Trump's transition, said in a statement Monday that "Matt Gaetz will be the next Attorney General. He's the right man for the job and will end the weaponization of our justice system. These are baseless allegations intended to derail the second Trump administration."
Trump told reporters Tuesday that he is not reconsidering his selection for attorney general.
Incoming Senate Majority Leader John Thune met with Gaetz on Wednesday, a spokesperson for Thune confirmed to CBS News.
The spokesperson said the two met "to discuss the Senate confirmation process, and he reiterated that Mr. Gaetz deserves a fair and transparent process, something that all of President Trump's nominees deserve."
The news of the meeting was first reported by Punchbowl.
Gaetz and Vance also met with Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Mike Lee of Utah, Josh Hawley of Missouri, Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, John Kennedy of Louisiana, and John Cornyn and Ted Cruz of Texas. The seven sit on the Judiciary Committee, which will conduct Gaetz's confirmation hearings early next year. Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa also met with Gaetz and Vance on Wednesday.
Hawley told CBS News that the purpose of the meeting was to discuss the need to get a confirmation hearing and ensure that Gaetz gets an opportunity "to respond in public, under oath." Hawley outlined that he thinks Gaetz has talked to every member of the Judiciary Committee and many other senators who do not sit on the committee. He said he expects Gaetz to meet with all 53 incoming Republicans over the coming weeks.
"President Trump is very committed to moving this forward. And I know there's been some speculation among my colleagues that maybe this wouldn't actually go to a confirmation hearing, but they want one, and I think they're absolutely entitled to have that," he said. "Gaetz wants the opportunity to testify, to respond to critics, answer questions, talk about his vision for the department."
Hawley is likely to vote for all of Trump's nominees, he said, and believes there will be "no shortage of information" about Gaetz available for senators.
At least one Republican senator, Susan Collins of Maine, said she has not been asked to meet with Gaetz yet. Collins is among the most moderate members of the conference, and her vote could be critical to Gaetz's confirmation. She previously said she was "shocked" by his selection.
After his meeting with Gaetz, Graham said that while he tends to defer to presidential Cabinet choices "unless the evidence suggests disqualification," the process for Trump's selections "will not be a rubber stamp, nor will it be driven by a lynch mob."
"I fear the process surrounding the Gaetz nomination is turning into an angry mob, and unverified allegations are being treated as if they are true. I have seen this movie before," he said, an apparent reference to Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation process in 2018. "I would urge all of my Senate colleagues, particularly Republicans, not to join the lynch mob and give the process a chance to move forward."
Lee, speaking with reporters following his meeting with Gaetz, said Kavanaugh's Senate confirmation hearings should be a "warning" amid the allegations against the Florida Republican.
"There were a lot of allegations thrown at Brett Kavanaugh that turned out to be uncorroborated in many, many instances," Lee said. "And so I do think that is something of a voice of warning people ought to take. Just because allegations are made, and just because people talk a lot about them — and sometimes in a fit of politically driven eagerness to embrace them, assume their truth — doesn't mean that they are, in fact, true."
Kavanaugh was accused of engaging in sexual misconduct decades earlier and vehemently denied the accusations. The Judiciary Committee held a set of extraordinary hearings that included testimony from Kavanaugh and Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, who claimed he assaulted her during a party when they were in high school in the 1980s. Classmates who were at the party, however, could not corroborate Ford's allegations. Kavanaugh was confirmed by the Senate in a 50-48 vote, the narrowest margin in more than a century.
Gaetz has been under investigation for several years by the House Ethics Committee and Justice Department, which looked into allegations of sex trafficking and obstruction. Prosecutors declined to charge Gaetz last year.
Ten of the 11 Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee asked FBI Director Chris Wray to turn over the full evidentiary file in the now-closed federal sex trafficking probe involving Gaetz.
"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 Democratic senators wrote in a letter to Wray. "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 Ethics Committee said in June that it had spoken with more than a dozen witnesses, issued 25 subpoenas and reviewed thousands of pages of documents as part of its investigation. It said in a rare statement that "certain allegations" merited continued review, among those the claims of sexual misconduct and drug use, accepting improper gifts, giving "special privileges and favors" and obstructing government investigations into his conduct.
Multiple sources told CBS News at the time that four women testified to the Ethics panel that they had been paid to go to parties, which Gaetz attended, that included sex and drugs. A lawyer for two women who spoke with the panel told CBS News on Monday that they testified that Gaetz paid them directly and repeatedly for sex, and said Venmo transactions for the encounters were obtained by the panel.
The attorney, Joel Leppard, also said the women told House investigators that Gaetz asked about "party favors" and "vitamins" at upcoming parties via text messages, which was understood to be code for drugs. One of Leppard's clients testified before the Ethics Committee that she witnessed Gaetz having sex with a 17-year-old against a game table during a July 2017 party, months after he was sworn in as a House member.
