Rep. Carlos Gimenez, R-Fla., told Newsmax on Wednesday that the Senate should receive the House Ethics panel’s report on former Florida GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz if that’s “something that they want.”
The House Ethics Committee on Wednesday failed to reach an agreement to release the report on allegations of sexual trafficking and misconduct against Gaetz, Chair Michael Guest, R-Miss., told reporters after the meeting that afternoon.
Gimenez said on “Newsline” that “the president has every right to pick whoever he wants to pick, and Matt Gaetz is his choice for attorney general, and he should be given some kind of deference.”
He added that “the Constitution calls for the U.S. Senate to deliberate and then affirm or reject that nomination. The Senate has a duty to perform, and so I'm sure that the Senate will perform their duties.”
Gimenez went on to say that the Senate should receive “whatever it is that they need in order to perform that duty,” including the House Ethics Committee’s report on Gaetz, which has not been released to members of Congress outside of the panel.
The congressman said that if the House has “something that they want, I think the House should not stand in their way.
He added, "Let the chips fall where they may” when it comes to “the nomination process … the affirmation process, the verification process” even though “it's been tumultuous … for some folks.”
Gimenez said that while he doesn’t know what’s in the report, “if it's something that the Senate deems that they want, they should have it, I think the House should be able to provide it to them."
When asked if Gaetz would be a good attorney general, Gimenez initially praised the former congressman as “a very intelligent individual who would be very disruptive at the [Department of Justice], probably something that they need,” but also noted that “it’s no secret that I'm not a fan of Matt Gaetz.”
Gimenez criticized Gaetz for leading the push to oust former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, saying, “I thought that was very disruptive to the House.”
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