Vice President-Elect JD Vance and Matt Gaetz are heading to Capitol Hill with a delegation of new Donald Trump administration nominees on Wednesday, in a bid to court skeptical Republicans and urge them to give the scandal-plagued attorney general pick “a shot” at the job.
The duo will be joined on their mission by Pete Hegseth, Elise Stefanik and Doug Collins, according to CNN, a trio representing the president-elect’s choices for America’s next defense secretary, UN ambassador and veterans affairs secretary respectively.
Louisiana Senator John Kennedy is one GOP stalwart they are expected to visit, while Gaetz has also been making phone calls as he seeks to bolster support for his bid to become the US’s top law enforcement official.
Missouri Senator Josh Hawley told CNN that the ex-Florida congressman had called him, imploring him “to give him a shot” at the role.
President-Elect Trump has also been personally calling senators, lobbying them to back Gaetz when Senate confirmation hearings get underway in January.
A number of Trump’s nominees have already proven controversial, either because they appear to be unqualified for the roles they have been chosen for or because of past scandals in their personal lives.
Gaetz’s selection appears to be the most under threat as he was previously investigated by both the Justice Department he could now lead and the House Ethics Committee over allegations that he paid for sex with an underage girl in 2017. Gaetz has repeatedly denied the accusations and has not been charged with a crime.
The Ethics Committee had been due to publish its report into Gaetz, compiled as part of the probe it curtailed in February 2023, last week – but he resigned from Congress after receiving the attorney general nod, effectively ending the probe as he is no longer within its jurisdiction.
However – just as Vance and Gaetz try to shore up support on Capitol Hill – the committee will meet on Wednesday to consider what next steps, if any, to take with the report.
More than 100 House Democrats have called on the panel to release the report – which was also accessed illegally by a hacker on Monday – along with several Republicans including veteran GOP Senator Chuck Grassley, the likely future chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
“I think that if they want a speedy consideration of this nomination… we’ve got to have as much transparency as we can have,” Grassley said.
“You’ve heard my colleagues, especially on the Republican side, say that they have some questions… and I think it would help faster consideration, the extent to which they would make as much available as they can.”
