Senate Democrats are pressing the FBI to release its files related to the investigation into alleged sex trafficking by Matt Gaetz, the nominee for attorney general under President-elect Donald Trump.
According to The Hill, Illinois Senator Dick Durbin has formally requested the FBI’s complete evidentiary file on the case. In a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray, Durbin specifically called for all documentation, including FD-302 forms summarizing witness interviews, to be provided for Senate review:
The Democratic senators, led by Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin (Ill.), say the allegations against Gaetz are “significant” in light of his associate, Joe Greenberg, having pleaded guilty to the sex trafficking charge for which the Florida Republican was also investigated.
“In order for the Senate to perform its constitutional duty in this instance, we must be able to thoroughly review all relevant materials that speak to the credibility of these serious allegations against Mr. Gaetz,” the senators wrote in their Wednesday letter to Wray.
The senators wrote that “the grave public allegations against Mr. Gaetz speak directly to his fitness to serve as the chief law enforcement officer for the federal government.”
They argued there is “substantial precedent” for providing such materials to Congress, citing the acknowledgment of Dan Bryan, the Justice Department’s assistant attorney general for legislative affairs, during a House Government Reform hearing in 2002 that the FBI has shared documents related to open and closed investigations with members dozens of times.
The senators noted that the bureau had previously provided over 2,000 pages of interviews and summaries related to its investigation into alleged improper fundraising by the 1996 Clinton-Gore campaign, as well as hundreds of thousands of pages concerning former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s email investigation.
Republicans will gain control of the U.S. Senate in January, securing 52 or 53 seats. Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) will replace Durbin as the chair of the Judiciary Committee at that time.
Along with Durbin, Wednesday’s letter was signed by Democratic Senators Richard Blumenthal (Conn.), Sheldon Whitehouse (R.I.), Amy Klobuchar (Minn.), Mazie Hirono (Hawaii), Laphonza Butler (Calif.), Chris Coons (Del.), Peter Welch (Vt.), Cory Booker (N.J.) and Alex Padilla (Calif.).
The Department of Justice closed its three-year investigation into Gaetz in February 2023. At that time, federal prosecutors informed Gaetz’s legal team that no charges would be filed, effectively ending the probe. Despite the DOJ’s decision, the investigation into allegations of Gaetz’s involvement in the trafficking of minors remains a focal point for Senate Democrats as they scrutinize his nomination.
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They should have done this with bidens dei picks
Congress is such a joke. First, all they do is make theater. They do nothing constructive or meaningful for the American people. They’ll “investigate” , use millions and millions of tax payers time and money then come up with some outcome they knew they wanted before the investigation started. As far as approval of nominees, they are even more pathetic in this process. This process will be a clown show.
The FBI happily obliges requests from Dems , but stonewalls any request from Republicans.