Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., the outgoing chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has called on the House Ethics Committee to "preserve and share" its report on former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla.
The investigation into Gaetz was spiked by House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., when Gaetz resigned from his House seat "effective immediately" after President-elect Donald Trump announced Gaetz's nomination for attorney general.
"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, who will be giving up the gavel on the Judiciary Committee next month under Republican control of the Senate, wrote in a statement Thursday. "We cannot allow this valuable information from a bipartisan investigation to be hidden from the American people.
"Make no mistake: this information could 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."
The House Ethics Committee was reportedly set to meet Friday to vote on whether to release the report, The Hill reported.
The committee was reportedly going to vote to clear the release of the report after Gaetz's August primary and before the November election, but a House recess interrupted the vote, a source told The Hill.
Gaetz's confirmation is facing full Democrat opposition and at least five Republicans have shown a reluctance to consider Gaetz's nomination — including three remaining of the seven who voted to impeach Trump after he left office.
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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