Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) says he will give Matt Gaetz a “fair shot” in his confirmation battle but wants to see the House ethics report on him first.
“Absolutely [the report should be released],” Mullin said. “I believe the Senate should have access to that. Should it be released to the public or not? I guess that will be part of the negotiations.”
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President-elect Donald Trump shocked the political world last week by naming the controversial Floridian to the attorney general post, which would put him in charge of the Department of Justice. Gaetz resigned from his House seat the same day, prompting speculation he was hoping to snuff out an ethics investigation, which was set to be released last Friday.
Mullin, who faces reelection in 2026, is one of the Republican senators who will decide whether or not Gaetz gets the post. He has been critical of Gaetz in the past, with NBC digging up clips of Mullin saying Gaetz showed other House members videos of “the girls that he had slept with” and reporting that Gaetz called Gov. Kristi Noem (R-SD) a “fine b****.”
He said those issues are in the past and what’s important now is whether he should vote for Gaetz or not.
“I’ve got to set my personal situation with Matt to the side and look at the facts,’ Mullin said Sunday on Meet the Press. “If he’s qualified, he’s qualified. To be quite frank, I didn’t even know he was an attorney until after he was appointed attorney general and I had to do my research on him.”
Asked whether he thinks Gaetz is qualified, Mullin said that has yet to be determined.
“I do respect President Trump’s right to appoint these individuals,” he said. “But underneath Article Two, Section 2, Congress has to advise and consent, and Matt Gaetz is going to go through the same scrutiny as every other individual, and I’m going to give him a fair shot.”
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He also said he has not made a final decision on Gaetz or any of Trump’s other nominees.
“Absolutely not,” he said. “I’m going to treat everybody the same and do my constitutional duty, and that is to advise and consent. And that means background. That means we’re going to be doing everything we can to verify the individuals, know who they are, and put them in the best place to succeed to put America first.”