{"id":2706,"date":"2024-11-20T19:00:07","date_gmt":"2024-11-20T19:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/the-vance-gaetz-message-to-senators-get-him-to-a-hearing\/"},"modified":"2024-11-20T19:00:07","modified_gmt":"2024-11-20T19:00:07","slug":"the-vance-gaetz-message-to-senators-get-him-to-a-hearing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/the-vance-gaetz-message-to-senators-get-him-to-a-hearing\/","title":{"rendered":"The Vance-Gaetz message to senators: Get him to a hearing"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Senators exiting closed-door meetings with attorney general nominee Matt Gaetz on Wednesday had a message: Just get the man to a hearing.<\/p>\n

Gaetz and Vice President-elect JD Vance (R-Ohio) met with GOP senators on Wednesday to discuss the congressman\u2019s embattled nomination. Swaths of Senate Republicans have not yet committed to supporting Gaetz, and at least two senators \u2014 Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) \u2014 have cast serious doubts on Gaetz getting confirmed to the top position at the Justice Department.<\/p>\n

Gaetz faces a litany of allegations, including that he had sex with a minor and paid for sex, though he has denied any wrongdoing. The House Ethics Committee is currently weighing whether to share a report they have been assembling on those accusations for more than a year. The Department of Justice also conducted an investigation, though officials ultimately declined to charge Gaetz.<\/p>\n

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), who attended a meeting with Gaetz Wednesday morning, said they \u201ctalked about the need to get a confirmation hearing\u201d and ensuring that Gaetz is \u201cable to respond in public under oath.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), who was also among the first to meet with Gaetz on Wednesday, described his meeting similarly. He added that Gaetz did most of the talking, while Vance was mostly in listening mode.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe did spend a number of minutes talking about the unfairness and the lack of truth of the allegations being pursued by the committee, and the fact that the [Department of Justice] did decline to prosecute,\u201d Lee said.<\/p>\n

The Utah conservative said he did not ask Gaetz specifically if he\u2019s had sex with a minor, but that it\u2019d be \u201ctroubling\u201d if those allegations proved true.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a pitch clearly structured to appeal to the Senate\u2019s procedure-loving members. Multiple Republicans who\u2019ve appeared hesitant to openly support Gaetz have said he at least deserves to move through the process. The meetings on Wednesday appeared to mainly be between Gaetz, Vance and various Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee \u2014 the panel that would hold his confirmation hearings.<\/p>\n

Judiciary Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) and John Cornyn (R-Texas) also publicly acknowledged having a meeting with Gaetz.<\/p>\n

\u201cI fear the process surrounding the Gaetz nomination is turning into an angry mob, and unverified allegations are being treated as if they are true. I have seen this movie before,\u201d Graham said. \u201cI would urge all of my Senate colleagues, particularly Republicans, not to join the lynch mob and give the process a chance to move forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

Graham did not respond to follow-up questions on his meeting, repeatedly referring back to his statement. Blackburn, who typically has a blanket rule against impromptu hallway interviews, said it was a \u201cgreat conversation\u201d with Gaetz and that it was good to see Vance. Cornyn said \u201cthe president\u2019s entitled to a fair process\u201d and that he has \u201cno prejudgments.\u201d Cornyn has previously said he wants to see the House Ethics Committee report.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to do our investigations and research, and give them the opportunity to answer,\u201d Cornyn said, leaving the meeting.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Senators exiting closed-door meetings with attorney general nominee Matt Gaetz on Wednesday had a message: Just get the man to a hearing. Gaetz and Vice President-elect JD Vance (R-Ohio) met with GOP senators on Wednesday to discuss the congressman\u2019s embattled nomination. Swaths of Senate Republicans have not yet committed to supporting Gaetz, and at least […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2706","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-congress"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2706","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2706"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2706\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2706"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2706"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2706"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}