By Bo Erickson and Katharine Jackson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. House Ethics Committee is expected to meet behind closed doors on Wednesday as some Senate Republicans ask it to share the results of its investigation into sexual misconduct allegations involving the U.S. attorney general Donald Trump, Matt Gaetz.

Gaetz, 42, resigned from his House seat last week, hours after President-elect Trump tapped him to lead the Justice Department, a move that raised questions in Congress about the future of the commission’s investigation into allegations that Gaetz had sexual relations with an individual. 17 year old girl.

Gaetz is also expected to return to Capitol Hill for meetings with lawmakers, Republican Sen. John Kennedy told reporters.

The Justice Department, which Trump wants Gaetz to lead, conducted its own three-year investigation into sex-trafficking allegations by the then-lawmaker, which did not bring criminal charges, and also brought two criminal charges against to Trump after he leaves office in 2021, none of them. who went to court.

Both Gaetz and Trump deny any wrongdoing, and Trump has described the four criminal cases he has faced as politically motivated attempts to prevent him from returning to power.

It will be up to the U.S. Senate, which Republicans will control by at least a 52-48 margin next year, to determine whether to confirm Gaetz, who has never worked in the department or served as a prosecutor at any level of government.

He is part of a growing list of Trump nominees who lack the resumes typically seen in chiefs of staff and who, in some cases, hold grudges against the agencies they were selected to lead. lead them.

A handful of Senate Republicans either asked the House committee to share the findings of its investigation into Gaetz or expressed skepticism about his qualifications. A hardline Republican, Gaetz helped oust Republican Kevin McCarthy as House Speaker last year, a move that threw the chamber into chaos for weeks.

Undeterred, Trump began calling Republican senators to emphasize his commitment to Gaetz, according to a Republican donor familiar with Trump’s dealings, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss tensions within the party.

Representative Dean Phillips, a Democrat who has served on past formations of the Ethics Committee, said the situation of Gaetz — a former congressman in line for one of the most powerful jobs in the U.S. government — is an argument in favor of publishing the report.

“He’s not just gone. Now he’s been nominated for a very important position in this country, which is, if you will, the country’s chief legal officer,” Phillips said. “It would seem bizarre and inconsistent with any ethical principle not to release him.”

Republican Representative Lauren Boebert dismissed the concerns, saying, “You all need to drop the ethics report, it was fired by the DOJ, Matt Gaetz is going to be our new attorney general.”

(Reporting by Bo Erickson and Katharine Jackson, additional reporting by Moira Warburton and Alexandra Ulmer; Editing by Scott Malone and Bill Berkrot)