By LISA MASCARO and STEPHEN GROVES
WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump’s choice for attorney general, Matt Gaetz, has launched an effort to personally secure his embattled nomination, meeting behind closed doors Wednesday with Republican senators who have questions about the sexual misconduct and other allegations against him.
As Gaetz and senators holed up near the Senate, members of the House Ethics Committee were expected to be meeting to discuss the findings of a long-running investigation of their former colleague. At least one Republican senator decried the “lynch mob” forming against Gaetz, who if confirmed would become the nation’s top law enforcement official.
“I’m not going to legitimize the process to destroy the man because people don’t like his politics,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., as he left the private senators’ meeting .
“He deserves a chance to make his argument why he should be attorney general,” Graham said. “No rubber stamp, no lynch mob.”
Said Sen. Josh Hawley, a Missouri Republican who is supportive of Gaetz’s nomination, emerged saying, “If you have concerns, that’s fine. But don’t make up your mind yet. Let the guy testify first.”
As the senators met in the out-of-the-way Strom Thurmond Room, Hawley said Gaetz was in a “cheerful” mood.
It’s the start of a personal push by Gaetz, who has long denied the mounting allegations against him, to shore up the Senate support needed to be confirmed as the nation’s attorney general. He brings with him wide-ranging proposals to rid the Department of Justice of those perceived by Trump to have “weaponized” their work against the president-elect, his allies and conservatives in general.
Shepherded by Vice President-elect JD Vance, Gaetz’s meeting with Senate allies was largely a strategy session where he emphasized the need to get a Senate hearing where he could lay out his and Trump’s vision for the Department of Justice.
It follows a meeting Gaetz had at the start of the week with the conservative House Freedom Caucus, whose members have expressed enthusiasm for his approach to wholesale changes, which have instilled a climate of anxiety and dismay at DOJ.
Gaetz, however, is also racing the clock against the potential release of the House Ethics Committee’s report which would publicly air the allegations against him.
At the same time, attorneys involved in a civil case brought by a Gaetz associate were notified this week that an unauthorized person accessed a file shared between lawyers that included unredacted depositions from a woman who has said Gaetz had sex with her when she was 17, and a second woman who says she saw the encounter, according to attorney Joel Leppard.
While House Speaker Mike Johnson has said the Ethics Committee should not release the report — since Gaetz swiftly resigned his congressional seat — several GOP senators have indicated they want all information before having to make a decision on how they would vote.
Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, who also met with Gaetz, said of the House Ethics Committee report, “We didn’t get into a lot of detail as to what he expects to be in there, but he expressed confidence that what is before the committee are a series of false accusations.”
As soon as the new Congress convenes Jan. 3, when Republicans take majority control, senators are expected to begin holding hearings on Trump’s nominees, with voting possible on Inauguration Day Jan. 20.
Trump has long had a valued ally in Gaetz, who was a star at congressional oversight hearings as he railed against what conservatives claim is favoritism within the Justice Department, which indicted the former president over alleged mishandling of classified documents and his efforts to overturn the 2020 election ahead of the Jan. 6, 2021 attack at the Capitol.
But the president-elect’s pick has been among the most surprising, and provocative, coming in the aftermath of the “Me, too” era and a broad societal shift against those alleged to have engaged in improper sexual conduct.
The Senate, however, has a long history of setting aside misgivings over sexual behavior when it comes to confirming presidential nominees.
Hawley said he did not think the allegations against Gaetz were credible.
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