Senate Democrats are demanding that FBI director Christopher Wray turn over all records related to the bureau’s investigation of Congressman Matt Gaetz for his alleged sexual encounter with a minor, and his alleged transporting of her across state lines. This comes as the House Ethics Committee is meeting in a private session to discuss the release of their own report. 

The chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Senator Durbin, wrote to Mr. Wray on Wednesday, saying that it was vital to the Senate’s advice and consent role that they see the records, given that Mr. Gaetz has been nominated to serve as attorney general. 

“The grave public allegations against Mr. Gaetz speak directly to his fitness to serve as the chief law enforcement officer for the federal government. The unanswered questions regarding Mr. Gaetz’s alleged conduct are particularly significant given that his associate, Joel Greenberg, pleaded guilty to the sex trafficking charge for which Mr. Gaetz was also investigated,” Mr. Durbin wrote in a letter to the director on Wednesday. 

The Justice Department closed their investigation into Mr. Gaetz in late 2022 after opening their probe in 2020, which apparently worried the now-former congressman to such an extent that he requested a blanket pardon from President Trump shortly before his term concluded. According to affidavits and witness testimony, Mr. Gaetz was seen engaging in a sexual encounter with a woman who was 17-years-old at the time, though the congressman was not aware of that fact until after. He was also accused of transporting her across state lines, which could represent sex trafficking, though Mr. Gaetz has denied all wrongdoing. 

The House Ethics Committee launched their own investigation into Mr. Gaetz’s conduct in 2021, and the committee could release the report as soon as Wednesday. The chairman of the Ethics panel, Congressman Michael Guest, told reporters on Wednesday that he had “reservations,” however. 

In September, Mr. Gaetz sent a letter to the Ethics Committee, arguing their probe had gone beyond the scope of what is appropriate for investigations into members of Congress. “Your investigation into me has devolved into a political payback exercise, devoid of adequate due process, riddled with leaks, and now seeking deeply personal information that is no business of Congress,” Mr. Gaetz wrote at the time, denying all claims of having sex with a minor, transporting her across state lines, or taking illegal drugs. 

Some of Mr. Gaetz’s fiercest allies and defenders both on and off Capitol Hill have made the argument that the Ethics Committee reporter cannot be released because Mr. Gaetz is no longer a member of the House, and it is tradition that the committee does not probe the conduct of those who are not actively serving in Congress. 

Mr. Durbin says such a precedent does not exist for executive branch probes into lawmakers, and therefore senators have every right to see the Justice Department files on Mr. Gaetz before he sits for his attorney general confirmation hearing. 

In his letter, the Illinois Democrat lists a number of instances where law enforcement has turned over information obtained from closed investigations to Congress due to the nature of pending nominations or the public interest. Some of those instances included the FBI giving files to the Senate from the probe into Senator Clinton’s use of a private email server, the intelligence community’s investigation into the 2016 Trump campaign for Russian collusion, and files related to the Ruby Ridge standoff in 1992, among others. 

“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,” Mr. Durbin writes. 

Requesting documents from a federal agency is typically the first step in issuing subpoenas for congressional committees. Mr. Durbin has asked that the FBI turn over all investigative materials collected during the probe into Mr. Gaetz, though they have not set a deadline for the bureau to voluntarily hand over that information. The committee could issue a subpoena in the coming weeks that gets the information into their hands before the Senate majority flips to the Republicans in January.