Senators say there are other ways to vet Gaetz without ethics report

President-elect Donald Trump has been calling Senate Republicans to push for Matt Gaetz to be confirmed as attorney general as lawmakers continue to raise concerns over the nomination.

Gaetz was being investigated by the House Ethics Committee for alleged sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, but his resignation from Congress after being announced as Trump's pick to lead the Justice Department placed the panel's report in limbo.

Some Senate Republicans are standing by their calls to see the report, though many now say the information about Gaetz will come to light with or without it.

"Does anybody honestly think that a lot of that testimony is not going to be re-engineered?" Sen. Thom Tillis, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said on Tuesday. "I mean, we are creating a false crisis because the reality is all that information is going to be on display at the hearing. Think Brett Kavanaugh."

Sen. John Kennedy, another member of the committee who will meet with Gaetz this week, also projected the information would leak.

"I am not an expert on the House rules so my advice for what its worth to my House colleagues is just follow the rules," Kennedy said. "That said, we all know what Washington is like. it leaks like a wet paper bag and I am not going to faint with surprise, I'm not predicting it, but it wouldn't surprise me if the report leaked."

Gaetz's nomination will first go to the Senate Judiciary Committee, which will vote on whether to send it to the whole of the Senate. Gaetz has been working the phones, reaching out to members of the Senate Judiciary Committee urging them to consider his nomination through regular order.

Many Republicans now say they will be banking on their colleagues on the committee, which is known for its often controversial public hearings, to do a fulsome vetting of Gaetz as debate continues on the future of the ethics report.

"I'm not sure I know the answer to how that's going to be handled," newly-elected Senate Majority Leader John Thune said when asked about the report on Monday night. "I think that's going to be a House issue, and then ultimately up to the Senate Judiciary Committee who is going to have the responsibility to go through the confirmation hearing and the process."

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, however, said she still believes it is important for the report to be made available. She said she felt it would be "helpful".

"I would like to see," Murkowski said. "I would like to see our committees do their full job. I don't. I'm not interested in a process that would say, well, because the president has named him and you have Republican chairs coming into the new Congress, we just move people out."

"There needs to be legitimate vetting," she added. "When I say legitimate, I mean just thorough vetting that the committees do. This is our job. This is the role of advice and consent, and I think we need to embrace advice and consent with full enthusiasm."

Regardless of the committee process there remains skepticism among Republicans about Gaetz's ability to be confirmed.

"He does have an uphill climb," Sen. Joni Ernst, R-IA, said on Monday night. "But I look forward to visiting with him about it."

Democrats, meanwhile, are still pushing for more information.

Senate Democrats have already written to request access to the House Ethics Committee report. But they plan to take it a step further in an upcoming letter to the Justice Department.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin said that members of the committee plan to circulate a letter to the Justice Department asking them to preserve documents related to their investigation into Gaetz.

They'll also continue to push for the House Ethics Committee report.

"We are exploring that. We haven't given up on it. Because this is fundamental, this documentation and the report was put together by an absolutely bipartisan panel," Durbin said.

Durbin added, "The resignation of Gaetz at the last minute was clearly designed to stop the public release of this information so it's critical. And if his nomination is going forward we want to make sure that we have access to the right documentation."

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, who also serves on the judiciary committee, said he'd push for both an FBI background check on Gaetz and access to the report.

"There should be no limits on our access to the truth, and the House Ethics Committee cannot conceal, hide, cloak, the truth from us," Blumenthal said. "It's just a matter of time. It may take a bit longer for the FBI to do its background check, but this man is unqualified, unequivocally and indisputably based on his lack of experience and background, but he also seems to be a sex predator, and we should have access to the truth about his full background."