WASHINGTON (AP) — Matt Gaetz, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for attorney general, launched an effort to personally secure his embattled nomination by meeting behind closed doors Wednesday with Republican senators who have heard questions about sexual harassment and other allegations against him. .

While Gaetz and senators were holed up near the Senate, members of the House Ethics Committee were also meeting privately to discuss the findings of a long-running investigation into their former colleagues. At least one Republican senator condemned the “lynch mob” against Gaetz; If confirmed, Gaetz would become the nation’s top law enforcement official.

“I’m not going to justify destroying the man just because people don’t like his policies,” Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said as he left a special session of senators.

“He deserves a chance to make the case for why he should be attorney general,” Graham said. “No rubber stamps, no lynch mobs.”

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., who supported Gaetz’s candidacy. He said: “If you have concerns, that’s okay. But don’t make up your mind yet. Let the man testify first.

As senators met in Strom Thurmond Hall, Hawley said Gaetz was in a “cheerful” mood. The former Florida congressman met with different senators for nearly four hours.

It’s the beginning of a personal push by Gaetz, who has long denied the mounting allegations against him, to shore up Senate support for his confirmation as the nation’s attorney general. He is offering wide-ranging proposals to rid the Justice Department of those seen by Trump as “weaponizing” his work against the president-elect, his allies and conservatives in general.

Trump himself told senators he hoped to “get Matt across the finish line.” Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.C., along with the president-elect and others, attended the SpaceX rocket launch in Texas with billionaire Elon Musk on Wednesday.

Observing Trump’s plans, Cramer said: “None of these people, including Matt Gaetz, were nominated to distract others. He wants them. “He knows what he wants, he says what he wants, and he’s going to get it done.”

Gaetz is led by Vice President J.D. Vance, an Ohio senator. His meeting with allies in the Senate was largely a strategy session in which he stressed the need for a hearing where he and Trump could lay out their vision for the Justice Department.

This follows Gaetz’s meeting with the conservative House Freedom Caucus earlier in the week, whose members expressed excitement about his approach to wholesale changes, creating a climate of anxiety and dismay in the department.

Vance reminded GOP senators that Trump’s presidential victory had consequences that swelled their ranks to the majority. “He deserves a Cabinet that is loyal to the agenda he was elected to implement,” the outgoing Ohio senator said on social media.

But Gaetz is also in a race against the possibility of the release of the House Ethics Committee’s report, which would make the allegations against him public.

At the same time, attorneys involved in a civil lawsuit filed by an employee of Gaetz were notified this week that an unauthorized party had accessed a file containing unedited statements shared between attorneys from a woman who said Gaetz had sex with her when she was 17. and a second woman who said she saw the encounter, according to attorney Joel Leppard.

Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee sent a letter Wednesday asking FBI Director Christopher Wray to provide the panel with “the entire dossier of evidence,” “including forms commemorating interviews” in the closed investigation into former Congressman Matt Gaetz’s alleged sex trafficking of minors. he wanted.

Gaetz said the department’s investigation into sex trafficking allegations involving underage girls concluded without any federal charges against him.

In the panel, Chairman of the Judiciary Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill. and others wrote: “The serious public allegations against Mr. Gaetz directly indicate that he is qualified to serve as head of law enforcement in the federal government.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said the committee should not release the report because Gaetz quickly resigned his congressional seat after Trump announced his candidacy, while several GOP senators said they wanted all the information before making a decision. They would vote.

Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, who also met with Gaetz, said of the committee’s report: “We didn’t go into a lot of detail about what he expected to happen there, but he expressed confidence about what would happen beforehand. The committee is just a series of false accusations.”

Gaetz, a longtime valued ally of Trump, became a star in congressional oversight hearings railing against what conservatives claimed was nepotism within the Justice Department; Gaetz blamed Trump for his efforts and his alleged mishandling of classified documents after leaving office. He overturned the 2020 election, losing to Democrat Joe Biden before the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021.

But the choice of the president-elect was one of the most surprising and provocative to come in the wake of the “Me Too” era and a broad social shift against alleged inappropriate sexual behavior.

But the Senate has a long history of setting aside doubts about sexual conduct when it comes to confirming presidential nominees.

Hawley said he thought the allegations against Gaetz were not credible.

Trump ally Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) said she had a great meeting with Gaetz and looks forward to a “swift confirmation of our next attorney general.” He wrote on social media that Trump’s Cabinet “will shake up the D.C. swamp and we look forward to mobilizing his nominees.”

Still, Cramer said Gaetz faces a “steep climb” to be confirmed.

“Donald Trump is understandably concerned that he has an attorney general who is legitimately and literally willing to do what he wants him to do,” Cramer said. “Matt Gaetz is definitely a guy who can’t take any punches.”

As soon as the new Congress convenes on January 3, 2025, with Republicans in control of the majority, senators are expected to begin holding hearings on Trump’s nominees. Voting will be possible on the inauguration day on January 20.

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