Republicans have won enough seats to control the U.S. House of Representatives, bringing the party to power and securing their hold on the U.S. government along with the newly elected president. Donald Trump.
Meanwhile, Trump’s choice for conservative loyalist Matt Gaetz To serve as attorney general, Democrats are sounding the alarm, with Sen. Dick Durbin saying Gaetz “would be a disaster,” in part because of Trump’s threat to use the Justice Department “to retaliate against his political enemies.”
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Here’s the latest:
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin, D-Ill., calls on the House Ethics Committee to release information it has collected about former Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz, Donald Trump’s proposed nominee for attorney general , and also to share it with the Senate.
Trump announced Gaetz as his pick for the post Wednesday and Gaetz immediately resigned from Congress, ending the investigation against him. The ethics panel said several months ago that the investigation also included whether Gaetz engaged in sexual misconduct and illegal drug use, accepted inappropriate gifts and tried to obstruct government investigations into his conduct. Gaetz has categorically denied all allegations before the committee.
“The sequence and timing of Mr. Gaetz’s resignation from the House of Representatives raises serious questions about the contents of the House Ethics Committee report,” Durbin said Thursday. “We cannot allow this valuable information from a bipartisan investigation to remain hidden from the American people.”
The Democrat looking to dethrone an incumbent Republican in a close battle for Congress in Iowa, one of the few yet to be called to the Republicans gained control of the US House of Representatives has requested a recount.
Democrat Christina Bohannan’s campaign requested a recount Thursday in her bid against the Republican incumbent Representative Mariannette Miller-Meeks to represent Iowa’s 1st District. The initial count puts Bohannan less than 1,000 votes — less than a percentage point — behind Miller-Meeks.
The contest is a much tighter rematch of 2022, when Miller-Meeks won by 7 percentage points. Miller-Meeks earned a first term in Congress representing Iowa’s 2nd District when she defeated Democrat Rita Hart by just six votes in 2020.