Ten Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee sent a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray on Wednesday requesting the complete file for the sex trafficking investigation into former Rep. Matt Gaetz, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for attorney general.
“We must be able to thoroughly review all relevant materials that speak to the credibility of these serious allegations against Mr. Gaetz,” the letter read.
In the letter, senators requested all evidence from the closed investigation, citing precedent for these materials being provided to Congress, arguing that the “grave” allegations against Gaetz “speak directly to his fitness to serve as the chief law enforcement officer for the federal government.”
They specifically asked for FD-302 forms, which are the FBI’s way of memorializing interviews conducted for investigations. The senators cited a litany of instances where documents part of closed investigations were delivered to both the House and Senate.
The Justice Department last year declined to pursue charges against Gaetz after investigating whether he and his associate Joel Greenberg paid underage girls for sex. (Gaetz has denied all allegations against him.)
“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,” the letter read.
Gaetz’s allies on the Hill have pointed to the lack of charges as they work to build Senate support for him. Trump himself has worked the phone as he tries to get Senators on board with his pick, NOTUS previously reported.
The House Ethics Committee is expected to convene later today to vote on whether or not to release the findings of its investigation into Gatez.
And as of Wednesday afternoon, Sen. Jon Ossoff was the only Democrat on the committee to not sign his name to the letter.
“The committee wanted to move forward swiftly with the letter while I was still in the process of reviewing it,” Ossoff told NOTUS.
“We may indeed need to demand all of those records,” he continued. “We certainly, at this time, need the House ethics report, and we need the administration to agree to a real, independent, standard, deep vetting process. And we may need to go further.”
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Helen Huiskes and Mark Alfred are NOTUS reporters and Allbritton Journalism Institute fellows.