House panel deadlocks on Gaetz sex misconduct report as he meets with senators

By Bo Erickson, Katharine Jackson and David Morgan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -A congressional ethics panel deadlocked on partisan lines on Wednesday on whether to release its report on alleged sexual misconduct by Republican Matt Gaetz, President-elect Donald Trump's attorney general pick, leaving his fate in question as he sought to build support on Capitol Hill.

Accompanied by Vice President-elect JD Vance, the former congressman met with some of the Senate Republicans who will decide whether to confirm him or block him when Trump takes office next year.

Some Republicans have said they want to see the results of an unreleased House of Representatives Ethics Committee investigation into allegations that he had sex with a 17-year-old girl.

It was not clear whether they would get a chance to do so.

The Ethics Committee met behind closed doors on Wednesday, but Democrats and Republicans on the panel split along partisan lines in a 5-5 vote that meant the report, for now, will remain unreleased.

"There was no consensus on this issue," the committee's top Democrat, U.S. Representative Susan Wild, told reporters. The committee will meet next on Dec. 5, she said.

Gaetz, 42, is perhaps the most divisive candidate in a crop of boundary-pushing Trump nominees who have expressed contempt for the agencies they would oversee.

He has never held a position at the Justice Department or worked as a prosecutor, but he has been the subject of a three-year FBI investigation into allegations of sex trafficking which produced no criminal charges.

He has denied wrongdoing and has since called for dismantling the FBI, the nation's most prominent law enforcement agency.

Gaetz also is widely disliked by his fellow Republicans in Congress, where he led a successful effort to force out House Speaker Kevin McCarthy last year that threw the chamber into chaos for several weeks. He resigned his House seat hours after Trump tapped him to lead the Justice Department last week.

Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee, which will vote on the nomination, on Wednesday asked the FBI to turn over its investigative file on Gaetz.

Several Republican senators have either called on the House panel to share findings of its investigation into Gaetz or expressed skepticism about his qualifications.

TROUBLING ALLEGATIONS

Republican Senator Mike Lee said the allegations of underage sex would be troubling if true, but noted that Gaetz was not charged.

"That's a crime. I would imagine that would be of significant concern with a lot of people,” Lee said after meeting with Gaetz.

"Whether he has the votes, that remains to be seen," Lee said.

Trump has begun calling Republican senators to underline his commitment to Gaetz, according to a Republican donor with knowledge of Trump's actions who was granted anonymity to discuss intraparty tensions.

"He will be held to account in the confirmation process. He deserves his chance to make his argument why he should be attorney general," said Senator Lindsey Graham, the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee that would be tasked with evaluating Gaetz's nomination.

"I think Matt is a very, very smart guy, and these allegations will be dealt with in committee."

The committee's top Democrat, Senator Dick Durbin, said in the letter to the FBI signed by his colleagues, "The grave public allegations against Mr. Gaetz speak directly to his fitness to serve as the chief law enforcement officer for the federal government."

Later on Wednesday, Democratic Representative Sean Casten moved to force a vote by the full House on requiring the committee to make its report on Gaetz public. The vote is unlikely to occur before the House begins a Thanksgiving holiday break on Friday and is due to return on Dec. 3.

(Reporting by Bo Erickson, Richard Cowan, Katharine Jackson and David Morgan, additional reporting by Moira Warburton, Andrew Goudsward and Alexandra Ulmer; Writing by Andy Sullivan; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Stephen Coates)