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 the ouster of former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy) openly expressed their concerns and disgust about him becoming Attorney General. Some have agreed with Durbin, too, that the ethics report on Gaetz must be made available for senators to examine.
“I think there should not be any limitations on the Senate Judiciary Committee’s” examination of Gaetz, “including whatever the House Ethics Committee generates,” Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said to reporters.
Trump announced Gaetz as his pick to lead the Department of Justice (DOJ) on Wednesday afternoon, calling the Florida Republican “a deeply gifted and tenacious attorney” who would “focus on achieving desperately needed reform at the Department of Justice.” Like Gaetz, Trump, too, has been investigated by the DOJ, with two separate inquiries (one focused on his retaining classified documents after leaving the White House in 2021, the other regarding his efforts to illegally overturn the 2020 election) resulting in indictments against him. Trump has also indicated a desire to weaponize the DOJ to go after his political opponents.
Whether the House Ethics Committee agrees to it or not, it’s possible that the report on Gaetz will be seen sooner rather than later. Indeed, Capitol Hill reporter Pablo Manriquez announced on X Thursday morning that Gaetz’s report could “be leaked as early as today,” citing a Republican source telling him so.
Some political observers have suggested that Gaetz’s nomination by Trump isn’t a serious one — that Trump, in selecting Gaetz to be Attorney General, gave him a “respectable” way to resign from office, thereby possibly preventing his ethics report from being made public. In turn for doing so, Trump can nominate someone different to head the DOJ, a person whom the Senate might not have agreed to before, but compared to Gaetz, would be a preferable option.
“Trump has shown he understands a cardinal rule of strong man dominance: constantly force your allies to defend the indefensible and to make ever greater concessions they once would have considered beyond the pale,” said Ronald Brownstein, senior editor for The Atlantic. “Each surrender paves the way for the next. Gaetz just an opening bid.”
However, if Trump is serious about Gaetz becoming Attorney General, he could try to invoke constitutional powers to make it happen, regardless of whether Senate Republicans agree with him or not.
The U.S. Constitution allows for a president to adjourn both houses of Congress. The Constitution also allows presidents to make “recess appointments” when the Senate is adjourned, which last throughout the full term of the office — in the Attorney General’s case, for the full four years of a presidency, or until they resign from their position.
Trump suggested he could take such an action during his first term in office. He also reiterated his ability to do so in a post on X earlier this week. If he’s serious about having someone like Gaetz lead the DOJ, he could use those constitutional actions to make it happen.
Any action of this kind would likely be litigated, with the Supreme Court having the final say on its legality. Given the conservative bloc of justices’ recent views on presidential immunity, it’s very likely the court would say that only impeachment of the president could restrict or punish Trump from acting in this manner.
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