Gaetz meets with senators as House Ethics Committee fails to agree on release of findings

President elect-Trump’s controversial pick for attorney general, former Congressman Matt Gaetz, met with Republican senators on Capitol Hill Wednesday. The meetings come amid mounting pressure on the House Ethics Committee to release a report looking into several allegations against Gaetz, including sexual misconduct. Geoff Bennett discussed more with Claudia Grisales of NPR.
Amna Nawaz:
Welcome to the “News Hour.”
Another key nomination made today by president-elect Donald Trump as questions and concerns continue to swirl around others. Mr. Trump today announced Matthew Whitaker as his pick to be ambassador to NATO. Whitaker briefly served as acting attorney general during Trump’s first term.
Geoff Bennett:
Meantime, vice president-elect J.D. Vance, along with Mr. Trump’s controversial pick for attorney general, former Congressman Matt Gaetz, met with Republican senators on Capitol Hill today.
The meetings come amid mounting pressure on the House Ethics Committee to release a report looking into several allegations against Gaetz, including sexual misconduct.
NPR congressional reporter Claudia Grisales joins us now from the Capitol.
Claudia, it’s good to see you.
So the House Ethics Committee said that they did not reach an agreement as to whether to release their report looking into the — these allegations against the congressman. Bring us up to speed and help us understand what the pressure points are.
Claudia Grisales, NPR:
Right.
Essentially, what it boils down to is a partisan divide at this moment on the House Ethics Committee. We saw the chairman, Representative Guest, come out and say no agreement was reached. But we saw a very angry Susan Wild — this is the outgoing representative from Pennsylvania — say that didn’t entirely represent what went down in that room.
And she felt betrayed by his remarks. Basically, reading between the lines, they were deadlocked. In talking to a Republican source this evening who’s familiar with their thinking on the panel, Republicans’ concerns where the report is not finished and there’s no precedent to release an unfinished report for the panel.
Geoff Bennett:
We should say there’s so much focus on this House Ethics panel report because the Trump transition team has not signed an agreement with the Justice Department that would allow the FBI to vet his nominees, upending some 60 years of precedent.
That said, you have Democrats, Senate Democrats, who’ve written a letter to the FBI asking for the complete file of the FBI’s prior investigation into Matt Gaetz. Help us understand what’s happening there.
Claudia Grisales:
Right.
There are a lot of forces here at play. A lot of people want to get their hands on that report. Even Senate Republicans want to see what is in that ethics report. Talked to Senator Cornyn of Texas after meeting with Matt Gaetz today, who was here at the Capitol.
And he continues to maintain that they need to learn more about what is going on with Gaetz’s background and all of these claims. At the same time, he said he assured Gaetz that this is just the beginning of the process. Everyone deserves a fair shake.
So when we look at Senate Democrats, they’re especially interested in getting that background. And we see it on the House side as well. House Democrats are moving forward for a privileged vote to try and force this on the House floor, see if a vote could force a release of this report.
Meanwhile, Ethics is supposed to meet again on December 5.
Geoff Bennett:
As vice president-elect J.D. Vance took Matt Gaetz around the Senate this afternoon and met with those Senate Republicans trying to build support, based on your reporting, how did those meetings go? Were they persuasive?
Claudia Grisales:
You know, it’s pretty clear that no one in terms of those who have raised concerns like Cornyn and other members who sit on the Judiciary Committee who would be very involved in this process, they haven’t signaled this is a done deal at all.
They’re just saying we need to let the president-elect have a fair shake at his nominees and have those nominees get a fair shake as well. So it’s just the very beginning, but there’s already a lot of focus on this and concerns in terms of how nominations like Gaetz can move forward.
Geoff Bennett:
Yes.
And my final question to you, Claudia, is a big-picture one, because Donald Trump is nominating the very types of people that he said he would when he was a candidate…
Claudia Grisales:
Right.
Geoff Bennett:
… people whom he knows well, people who are loyal to him, people who would potentially disrupt and dismantle the parts of the government that he views as suspect, and, in the case of folks like Dr. Mehmet Oz, Pete Hegseth, even Matt Gaetz, people whom Mr. Trump views as effective communicators on television.
Do you see it that way? And how are these nominations generally landing with the Senate Republicans?
Claudia Grisales:
Right.
He is going with what he promised in terms of what he wanted to see and the people he wanted to see make the kind of changes he envisions for all of our government agencies. And so it’s making a reality his campaign promises in terms of shaking up Washington. There’s definitely a lot of shaking going on here right now.
But there’s also concerns in terms of the Pentagon and the concerns with that nominee to lead — the next leader of the Pentagon, as well as, of course, Gaetz, as we have talked about, and Dr. Oz, in terms of what kind of changes they could install, in addition to others such as Tulsi Gabbard and concerns about intelligence that I’m hearing about from even Republicans.
Geoff Bennett:
Claudia Grisales of NPR, thanks so much for being with us.
Claudia Grisales:
Thank you.