Durbin demands House ethics panel share Gaetz report with Senate panel

Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin (D), chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, urged the House Ethics Committee to "preserve and share" its report on former Rep. Matt Gaetz after President-elect Trump tapped the Florida Republican to serve as attorney general.

After Trump announced the surprising nomination Wednesday, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) announced Gaetz had resigned "effective immediately," essentially killing the probe, which was investigating whether Gaetz engaged in sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, among other allegations.

Durbin called on the Ethics Committee to share the report with his Senate Judiciary Committee in a statement Thursday.

"The sequence and timing of Mr. Gaetz’s resignation from the House raises serious questions about the contents of the House Ethics Committee report. We cannot allow this valuable information from a bipartisan investigation to be hidden from the American people," the statement read.

"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," he continued.

In a thread of posts on the social platform X, Durbin emphasized his statement.

Until Trump's announcement and Gaetz's subsequent resignation disrupted the plans, the Ethics Committee was set to meet Friday to vote on whether to release the report, a source told The Hill. Punchbowl News first reported the meeting.

The source said the committee was supposed to meet during the last week of July to vote on releasing Gaetz’s report. If the vote cleared, the panel would have published the report after the congressman’s August primary and before his November general election — abiding by the panel’s election blackout rules. But the House left for recess early in July, interrupting the vote, the source said.

Although the investigation ended because of Gaetz's departure from Congress, the panel could still vote to release the report, in what would be a rare move.

Trump's pick of Gaetz as attorney general sent shockwaves throughout Washington; a source in the room where House Republicans were waiting to start leadership elections at the time said there were audible gasps when Trump made the announcement.