Vance, Gaetz call senators to shore up support amid GOP concerns

(WASHINGTON) — Vice President-elect JD Vance has been working the phones reaching out to senators trying to gauge support for former Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz — who Trump named for the attorney general role, according to three sources with knowledge of the calls.

Gaetz, who resigned from the House shortly after President-elect Donald Trump announced the pick on Thursday, has also been making calls to senators, sources said.

Vance’s actions underscore that he is expected to be the “eyes and ears” for Trump in Congress, a source told ABC News.

This comes as Senate Republicans have fired off warning shots to Trump that his nominee to head up the Department of Justice faces major hurdles in his path to confirmation.

“I know he’s gonna have an uphill battle,” Republican Sen. Joni Ernst told reporters.

Senate Republicans can only afford to lose four votes to confirm Trump’s nominees in the new Congress next year. Republicans are expected to hold 53 seats in the new Congress.

Republican Sen. Kevin Cramer said he has concerns with Gaetz’s attorney general nomination and thinks the former Florida congressman likely wouldn’t be confirmed if the vote took place imminently.

“There are concerns he can’t get across the finish line and we’re going to spend a lot of political capital — I say ‘we’ — a lot of people will spend a lot of political capital on something that even if it got done, you have to wonder if it’s worth it,” Cramer said.

Earlier this week, Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal — who sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee, which oversees the attorney general confirmation process — told reporters that he knew of at least five to 10 senators who currently disapproved of Gaetz as the nominee.

Cramer took that estimation a step further.

“I would guess if we had to vote today on the Senate floor, it might be more than that,” Cramer said.

Gaetz was under investigation by the House Ethics Committee for alleged sexual misconduct and illicit drug use. The committee was in its final stages of its investigation, sources confirmed to ABC News.

The committee was slated to meet on Friday to discuss the status of the Gaetz report, but the chairman of the committee confirmed on Friday that the meeting had been “postponed.”

Since Gaetz left his post in the House, the House Ethics Committee no longer has the jurisdiction to continue its investigation into him.

The Justice Department also spent years probing the allegations against Gaetz, including allegations of obstruction of justice, before informing Gaetz last year that it would not bring charges.

Gaetz has long denied any wrongdoing.

House Speaker Mike Johnson said Friday he does not think the House Ethics Committee should release its report into Gaetz.

“I think it’s a terrible breach of protocol and tradition and the spirit of the rules,” Johnson told reporters at the U.S. Capitol.

Johnson told reporters on Friday he didn’t think it was “relevant” for the public to know what’s in the report.

“The rules of the house have always been that a former member is beyond the jurisdiction of the Ethics Committee. And so I — I don’t think that’s relevant.”

Republican Sen. John Cornyn told ABC News that it’s important to have access to what the House Ethics Committee has found in its investigation.

“I think there should not be any limitations on the Senate Judiciary committee’s investigation, including, whatever the House Ethics Committee has generated,” Cornyn said.

Cornyn said he would “absolutely” want to see the House Ethics Committee’s report on Gaetz during his confirmation process.

Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Dick Durbin, called for the report to be released on Thursday.

“In light of Donald Trump’s selection of former congressman Matt Gaetz to be attorney general, I’m calling on the House Ethics Committee to preserve and share the report and all relevant documentation on Mr. Gates with the Senate Judiciary Committee,” Durbin, a Democrat, said.

On Thursday, Durbin and Senate Democrats sent a letter officially asking for the House Ethics Committee to release its report on Matt Gaetz, including all other relevant documentation.

“The sequence and timing of Mr. Gaetz’s resignation from the House raises serious questions about the contents of the House Ethics Committee report and findings. We cannot allow this critical information from a bipartisan investigation into longstanding public allegations to be hidden from the American people, given that it is directly relevant to the question of whether Mr. Gaetz is qualified and fit to be the next Attorney General of the United States,” the senators wrote.

Durbin noted there is “substantial” precedent to release the report.

On Friday, Durbin said Trump’s various Justice Department nominees, including Gaetz and his personal attorneys, show his intention to “weaponize” the Justice Department for retribution.

“These selections show Donald Trump intends to weaponize the Justice Department to seek vengeance,” Durbin said in a statement. “Donald Trump viewed the Justice Department as his personal law firm during his first term, and these selections — his personal attorneys — are poised to do his bidding.”

The Senate’s new incoming Republican leader, Sen. John Thune, told reporters that he expects the Senate Judiciary Committee to do its job and for the Senate to provide advice and consent that is required under the Constitution.

Thune and Senate Republicans now face a new challenge in the next Congress, with Trump already daring Senate Republicans to defy him. Thune was just minutes into his election victory on Wednesday when Trump announced his controversial attorney general pick in Gaetz. It quickly became apparent that nominees like Gaetz will struggle to gain majority support from the Senate.

There are already questions about Trump’s other nominees, including Tulsi Gabbard for director of national intelligence, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for secretary of Health and Human Services, and Pete Hegseth, the Fox News personality, who has been nominated to the top Pentagon post.

ABC News’ Benjamin Siegel, Lauren Peller and Isabella Murrary contributed to this report.

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