Gaetz meets with Senate Republicans as House ethics panel considers releasing report : NPR

Former Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, President-elect Trump’s nominee for Attorney General, began meeting with Senate Republicans on Wednesday, while across the Capitol members of the House ethics panel are slated to consider releasing a report on allegations Gaetz had sex with a minor.

Republicans in the Senate are treading cautiously about the choice to tap Gaetz as the nation’s top law enforcement official as the discussions about the handling of the House ethics probe continue.

As a congressman, Gaetz faced a probe by the panel about participating in sex parties, using illegal drugs, paying women for sex, including one who was 17 at the time. But the loyal Trump defender and longtime conservative firebrand resigned his seat before the panel voted on their report, and insists he did nothing wrong.

Texas Sen. John Cornyn, a senior member of the panel, told reporters he wanted to see the full record about Gaetz, and expected details of the ethics report would come out in some form.

Pressure to release the report has grown

Dick Durbin, the current chair of the panel, and other Democrats on the Judiciary committee sent a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray asking for the complete evidentiary file of DOJ’s probe of Gaetz, arguing the Senate has a duty to review all materials as it considers the nomination.

“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 Democrats wrote. “The unanswered questions regarding Mr. Gaetz’s alleged conduct are particularly significant given that his associate, Joel Greenberg, pleaded guilty to the sex trafficking charge for which Mr. Gaetz was also investigated.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., warned that releasing the report violated the practice of the panel not publicly revealing any information about probes of lawmakers were no long members of the House, saying it would open “Pandora’s box.”

But House Ethics Chairman Michael Guest told NPR about the speaker, “He will not be influencing the decision of the committee. We will reach an independent decision as a committee when we meet.”

The two parties have equal representation on the panel with five Democrats and five Republicans and a majority vote would be required to release the report.

Rep. Susan Wild, the top Democrat on the panel, told reporters that she supports releasing the committee’s work.

“It should certainly be released to the Senate, and I think it should be released to the public, as we have done with many other investigative reports in the past,” she said.

Attorney for women reveals their ethics testimony

Joel Leppard, an attorney who represents two women who testified before the House Ethics Committee told NPR that his clients were among a group of four or five young women in the Orlando area who knew Gaetz and met up with him in 2017 and 2018. He said they told the panel they attended sex and drug parties with Gaetz, who was then a sitting member of the House.

One of Leppard’s clients told the committee that she witnessed Gaetz having sex with a minor at a party in July of 2017. The woman also detailed how Gaetz paid them —with Venmo and Paypal, with notations and dates for each occassion.

Trump, asked on Tuesday if he was reconsidering Gaetz’s nomination, gave a firm “no.” Several Republican Senators argue Trump won the election and deserves to install the people he wants in top Cabinet positions.

NPR’s Claudia Grisales and Ryan Lucas contributed to this report