Ending an ethics probe
The AP reports:
Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz [has] resigned from Congress, ending an ethics probe into allegations of sex trafficking, sexual misconduct and drug use, after President-elect Donald Trump nominated him for attorney general.
…
Gaetz submitted his resignation from Congress, effective immediately, launching an eight-week clock to fill his seat, Johnson said, possibly in time for the start of the new Congress on Jan. 3. It also ends a long-running ethics investigation into the Florida congressman.
Johnson framed the stunning move by Gaetz to resign early and before confirmation as a way to help the majority fill his vacancy much [faster] than if he were to wait until his Senate confirmation as attorney general.
Nothing like an Attorney General who was under investigation for perving on a child among other vomitous activities.
The best outcome here would be the Senate refusing to confirm Gaetz.
@Papito,
There seems to be a very good chance of that. He’s not popular even among fellow Republicans. Susan Collins’s brow is deeply furrowed.
Oh, but I am so sure she will recognize that he’s learned his lesson! Go ahead and confirm, the very fact of having an ethics probe launched against him is lesson enough!
Can he get a security clearance with a history like his? Oh, wait, Trump will appoint him anyway, and force the government to give him a security clearance. After all, DJT almost certainly doesn’t qualify for a security clearance. After all, he didn’t last time, and that was before he was a convicted felon.
I guess it comes down to recess appointments. Is John Thune going to obey Trump and recess the Senate for more than ten days, abdicate the Constitutional obligations of the Senate, and allow Trump to jam his slate into office with recess appointments?
Thune is hinting that if the Senate doesn’t play ball and rubber-stamp Trump’s appointments, that’s what he will do.