Raw Story - Some GOP senators are 'eager to crawl' for Trump amid looming loyalty test: Dem

Matthew Chapman
November 20, 2024 9:09PM ET

Donald Trump has given the Republican Senate caucus a test designed to humiliate them in selecting former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) as attorney general and demanding they either confirm him or go into recess to allow him to bypass a vote, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) told CNN's Anderson Cooper on Wednesday.

Gaetz, who resigned last week after being nominated, is the subject of a House Ethics Committee report into allegations of child sex trafficking, drug use, and improper gifts — and the House GOP is still wrangling over whether to let that report see the light of day.

"Gaetz, as you know, met with several senators on Capitol Hill today," said Cooper. "I mean, it seems like so far, Republican senators seem mostly to be on the same page, at least publicly, which is that Gaetz has some serious allegations to address, but he deserves a hearing. Do you think there are enough Republican senators who would say no to him as attorney general?"

"I think it's too early to tell that," said Whitehouse — but, he added, "I think this is the crawl test for senators."

That is, he continued, "I think there are some Republican senators who are eager to crawl. I think there are others who are trying to keep their powder dry and stay out of trouble with Trump for as long as they can, but when it's game day and this information about Gaetz and all of his sexual misbehavior and his payments for things, in addition to his complete lack of qualification — I mean, we're focusing on the sex part, but this is a guy who has no idea how to do that job whatsoever, and will clearly bring to it a really foul political caste."

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