Texas Sen. Ted Cruz did not commit to backing Matt Gaetz for attorney general when asked Thursday.
Cruz demurring on the matter is the latest incident highlighting Congress’ hesitancy to get behind Donald Trump’s nominee.
Both Republicans and Democrats have bristled at the idea Gaetz could be the top law enforcement official in the U.S.
When Newsmax host Bianca de la Garza pressed Cruz on whether he would vote for Gaetz on Thursday, Cruz avoided answering head on, saying instead he’d rather the former Florida lawmaker go through confirmation hearings first.
‘The question is, will he make it through confirmation? Will you vote to confirm him? What do you think of him as a pick?’ de la Garza asked.
Cruz did not answer ‘yes.’
The Republican replied: ‘As for that particular nomination, look, we have a process under the Constitution where the Senate provides advice and consent. And I trust that process.’
‘That nominee, like every other will, will have a vigorous vetting, will have confirmation hearings. And every nominee is going to be going to be judged on the merits.’
Cruz admitted to the Newsmax host he and his colleagues were shocked by Trump picking Gaetz.
‘I will say that was a pick that was, I think, very surprising to the entirety of the Senate,’ he said. ‘And so we’ll assess the nominee on the merits.’
‘But but there is a process that will unfold that examines a particular nominee’s background, their experience and their suitability for a role.’
Gaetz’s qualifications for the top law enforcement role have come into question since the announcement.
And previous allegations about sexual misconduct and drug use may murky the Florida man’s chances of getting confirmed to the position.
Gaetz had been the subject of a yearslong House Ethics Committee probe that ended Wednesday after his abrupt resignation from Congress, one day after Trump shockingly nominated him to be the top law enforcement official in the nation.
The resignation means the committee no longer has jurisdiction over Gaetz. They even canceled an upcoming meeting Friday to discuss releasing the report.
The FBI had investigated similar claims against Gaetz, but the DOJ opted not to indict him over claims he sex trafficked a 17-year-old girl.
Trump’s pick of the embattled former congressman to oversee the Justice Department, FBI, DEA, ATF and related agencies has shocked Republicans and Democrats.
Now, some Republican senators who will vote on his nomination are demanding to review the House report before the 42-year-old Florida man is able to join Trump’s Cabinet.
‘The President’s role is to make the nomination, but we need to have complete vetting of the nominees, not only so we know that the nominee is qualified, but also to protect the president,’ Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said Thursday.
He ‘absolutely’ wants to review the House Ethics Committee’s report on Gaetz’s conduct.
Cornyn even floated the idea of taking legal action to review the report’s contents.
‘There’s various ways we can glean access to it, we can subpoena it,’ he told reporters. ‘I don’t I don’t think any of us want to fly blind.’
Cornyn argued the Senate has a role in weeding out unqualified candidates during the nomination process, and that doing so protects the president from potential bad apples.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., however, doesn’t think that will work, nor does he want it to happen.
When pressed on if the Senate would be able to subpoena an unreleased House ethics report Graham responded: ‘I wouldn’t think so.’
The South Carolinian also added he wouldn’t want the House to be able to subpoena unreleased Senate reports.
Gaetz has called the investigation ‘frivolous’ and a smear campaign against him.
Rep. Michael Guest, R-Ala., the chairman of the House Ethics Committee, reiterated Thursday that he does not intend to release the report.
‘What happens in Ethics is confidential. We’re going to maintain that confidentiality,’ he told reporters Thursday.
There is also the possibility that committee members, or staff, would leak the document.
The top Democrat on the Ethics panel, Glenn Ivey, D-Md., told DailyMail.com he had no knowledge of any anticipated Ethics leaks for Gaetz’s file. He said he couldn’t recall another instance of a report from the committee being leaked.
On the other hand, Ivey noted that Gaetz has repeatedly accused the Ethics Committee of leaking information regarding their investigation, though he denied the allegations.
But that has not stopped senators from calling to see the report.
Democratic Senate Judiciary Chair Dick Durbin wrote Thursday: ‘I am calling on the House Ethics Committee to preserve and share their report and all relevant documentation on Mr. Gaetz with the Senate Judiciary Committee.’
When asked if he wanted to see the Gaetz report Thursday Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., said he does.
‘It’ll be a fine tooth comb,’ the Alabaman said of reviewing Gaetz’s file. ‘And they knew that going in.’
‘It will be one of those [nominations] that will be well scrutinized,’ he added.
Still, Tuberville says he likes the former Florida lawmaker
‘I’m a Matt Gaetz fan because I’ve known it for him for a long time. He’s smart, been on Judiciary [Committee] for seven years, a very good lawyer, well spoken, believes in the Constitution and I think he’d do a great job.’
Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., told DailyMail.com ‘I need to learn more about him generally … I’m sure whatever information I need to review will be forthcoming.’
Trump, however, has demanded that the Senate use ‘recess appointments’ to confirm Cabinet nominees.
‘Any Republican Senator seeking the coveted LEADERSHIP position in the United States Senate must agree to Recess Appointments (in the Senate!), without which we will not be able to get people confirmed in a timely manner,’ Trump wrote on X Sunday.
This cuts against the desires of many Republican senators to hold hearings and votes for nominees.
‘I’m fine with it, but I hope we don’t have to do it,’ Tuberville said of Trump’s recess appointments. ‘I hope we can just do them ourselves and and go through the same process.’
‘Well, I think we ought to be able to go through the regular process,’ Republican Nebraska Sen. Pete Ricketts told DailyMail.com.
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., told DailyMail.com: ‘I think it’s too early to tell whether you need to go to any kind of extraordinary measures to do it.’
‘I’m not opposed to it, but there’s all kinds of ins and outs of how you get to that.’
Paul, who will be chairman of the chairman of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs come January, noted he is planning on having hearings for nominees under his purview.
Meaning South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, who Trump nominated for Department of Homeland Security secretary, will need to sit before Paul’s panel before getting confirmed into Trump’s Cabinet.
‘My plan is to have hearings at the first possible date for the ones I’m in charge of,’ he revealed.