Gaetz nomination an early test for new GOP majority

Just hours after receiving the nomination to become the next Senate majority leader, Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., faced his first test of loyalty to the Trump administration: Would he support the confirmation of Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., as the next attorney general?

Matthew Green, professor of politics at the Catholic University of America, knew Thune would eventually run up against a question like this. He just didn’t see it coming within a day.

“It’s not a fun way to start your tenure as majority leader. I’ll put it that way,” Green said. Gaetz has been the subject of a House Ethics Committee investigation due to allegations of sexual abuse, drug abuse, misuse of campaign funds, and other misconduct—accusations he vehemently denies.

“Gaetz’s odds [of confirmation] are low. They’re not zero,” Green said. “Trump has as firm a grip as ever on the Republican base. But it’s just going to be a lot of unpleasantness for [the Senate].”

Senate confirmation for Gaetz was always going to be a tough ask. But those odds sank further when the nomination indirectly halted the House Ethics Committee from releasing its findings from the yearslong investigation into Gaetz.

Negative sentiments toward Gaetz’ in both chambers may take some of the heat off Thune to block the confirmation singlehandedly. At his post-election speech, Thune promised to do what he could to further the president-elect’s plans, starting with his appointees.

“We are excited to reclaim the majority and to get to work with our colleagues in the House to enact President Trump’s agenda,” Thune said. “We will do everything we can to process his [nominations] quickly and get them installed in their positions so they can begin to implement his agenda.”

Still, the looming potential of having to vote for someone with unresolved sexual misconduct allegations took lawmakers by surprise.

Three years ago, the Justice Department launched an investigation into Joel Greenberg, a Florida tax official and political associate of Gaetz, for trafficking a minor. Greenberg eventually pleaded guilty and received a sentence of 11 years behind bars. Gaetz was not charged, but his ties to Greenberg continued to raise concerns.

In May 2023, the House Ethics Committee picked up where the Justice Department had left off. After a few months of investigation, the committee announced it had decided there was cause to continue its work.

“The committee is reviewing allegations that Representative Gaetz may have: engaged in sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, accepted improper gifts, dispensed special privileges and favors to individuals with whom he had a personal relationship, and sought to obstruct government investigations of his conduct,” the committee said in a statement in June.

Gaetz received the nomination for attorney general on Tuesday and abruptly resigned from the House on Wednesday. Rep. Michael Guest, R-Miss., chairman of the House Ethics Committee, explained that put the brakes on the committee’s work. The body no longer has jurisdiction over Gaetz.

“Since I’ve been on Ethics, we’ve had members who were under investigation who have either chosen to resign, who have not run for office, or they’ve run for office, and they’ve been defeated. And then once that happens, then that puts an end to our jurisdiction as an ethics committee. Nothing will change that.”

Guest said he intends to keep the committee’s report confidential in keeping with the committee’s policy.

Many of his Republican colleagues want to see the report anyway—especially if Gaetz could hold a Cabinet position.

“If he stands any chance of becoming attorney general, we need to know what we know,” Rep. John Duarte, R-Calif., said on Thursday. “We can’t have an attorney general who has an ethics report hanging over his head. That’s got to become public.”

Duarte encouraged the committee to release the report. I asked House Republican Whip Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Minn., if GOP leadership team would do the same.

“The Ethics Committee will do what the Ethics Committee will do,” Emmer said. “My opinion does not matter.”

In theory, there’s one other way the findings could make their way out of committee: The Senate could subpoena them. One of the committee’s members, Rep. Glenn Ivey, D-Md., believes that if the Senate wants to see those documents, they’ll get them.

“I don’t know what the precedent is on that,” Ivey said on Thursday. “Typically for confirmation hearings, the Senate has gotten whatever it’s wanted from wherever it’s wanted.

In light of the investigation and the surrounding turmoil, Green, the professor from Catholic University, says Gaetz’s long odds likely simplify things for Thune.

“Thune could very easily go to Trump and say, ‘The votes are not there, and they’re not going to be there,” Green said. “People in general think that congressional leadership are like these overlords that are whipping their members into shape all the time. You can’t do that all the time.”