Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) suggested President-elect Trump appointing former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) to serve as the head of the Justice Department (DOJ) is somewhat of a power play against Senate Republicans.
"I think the bottom line here is that there is an element of Trump wanting to sort of subjugate Republican senators here," Whitehouse, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, told CNN's Anderson Cooper on Wednesday.
"I think some of these candidates are essentially Trump challenging the Republican Senate to a crawl moment," he later added. "And the stakes are getting higher and higher as more and more bad information comes out about these nominees."
His comments come in the wake of the House Ethics Committee voting to withhold its report on an investigation into Gaetz over accusations of sexual misconduct and illicit drug use. The report also details the DOJ's probe of the Florida Republican on allegations around the sex trafficking of minors.
The committee, which held a two-hour meeting Wednesday, is expected to meet again Dec. 5.
Some Republicans are privately suggesting Gaetz should consider withdrawing his nomination as attorney general in order to save himself the wrenching ordeal of an embarrassing confirmation hearing — especially if he’s unlikely to be confirmed in the end.
Whitehouse expressed his desire to have the Ethics Committee report released during his Wednesday interview, calling it "highly relevant."
"Look, we should get the House Ethics Report. We should get the Department of Justice files. There‘s precedent for getting the House Ethics report," he said. "He‘s going to be overseeing the DOJ and the FBI, so what they have on him in House is highly relevant."
"So, I think the real issue here is how low the Republicans want to go, because this is just going to keep coming out," the Rhode Island senator added.
The remarks also follow reports that a hacker gained witness testimony related to the probe.
The file, which came from an unidentified person using the name “Altam Beezley,” contained 24 exhibits and is said to include testimony from a woman who said she had sexual relations with Gaetz when she was 17 years old, and another woman who said she witnessed the encounter, according to The New York Times, which was the first to report on the breach.
Whitehouse said lawmakers who want to see the information will continue seeking to get it released.
"The information in the House Ethics files and in the DOJ report came in from witnesses who are available to us, and we‘re going to keep digging," he said.
