The White House News

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee filed a lawsuit Monday over the counting of dozens of provisional ballots in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, alleging that rejecting the ballots violates both the due process clause of the U.S. Constitution and other protections for voters.

The lawsuit, which the DSCC filed in state court against the Bucks County Board of Elections on behalf of Sen. Bob Casey, is the latest in a flurry of legal action in the Keystone State as it begins its official Senate election recount. 

The case centers on 74 provisional ballots in Bucks County that were disqualified because they lacked an inner “secrecy envelope” required for provisional ballots in the state.

REPUBLICANS FILE 12 PENNSYLVANIA LAWSUITS IN ‘AGGRESSIVE’ PUSH TO END RECOUNT

Lawyers for the Democratic Party argued in the court filing that the provisional ballot errors were the “direct result” of inaccurate instructions from poll workers, rather than the voters themselves, and therefore violated both the due process clause and the Help America Vote Act (HAVA), which states that “an individual’s provisional ballot “shall be counted… in accordance with state law” if election officials determine that the individual is eligible to vote.  

By excluding these provisional ballots that were the result of poll worker errors, lawyers argued, the Bucks County Board of Elections “unlawfully disenfranchises” voters and harms Casey’s electoral prospects.

The lawsuit centers on just 74 ballots, making it unlikely it will have any significant impact on the recount in Pennsylvania. 

But it comes amid a flurry of recent lawsuits in the Keystone State, where Republican candidate David McCormick narrowly edged out Casey by just 17,000 votes, according to unofficial data from the Department of State – putting Casey well within the 0.5% margin of error required under Pennsylvania law to trigger an automatic recount. 

BATTLEGROUND STATES’ RECOUNT RULES VARY WIDELY. HERE’S A LOOK AT HOW THEY WORK

The Senate recount began Monday, and will continue through Nov. 26.

Republican Party officials have argued that the results have been decisive and that Casey lacks any achievable path to victory.

They have also criticized Casey for declining to waive the recount, noting that it will cost taxpayers an estimated $1 million. 

McCormick, for his part, called for a recount of his own in 2022 after he was beaten in the Republican Senate primary by TV celebrity Dr. Mehmet Oz.

News of the lawsuit comes after the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled Monday that mail-in ballots with incorrect or missing dates cannot be counted in the 2024 election, delivering a victory to Republican Party officials as they moved to aggressively defend their narrow Senate victory.

Casey’s campaign used news of the DSCC lawsuit to reiterate their criticism of the many Republican-led lawsuits that have been filed in the commonwealth, and which they have suggested risk disenfranchising voters.

“Thousands of Pennsylvanians’ votes are in question across the commonwealth as David McCormick and national Republicans work to throw out ballots cast by eligible voters and accepted by county election boards,” a spokesperson for the campaign told Fox News Digital.

Casey will “continue to fight back against efforts to disenfranchise voters to ensure Pennsylvanians’ voices are heard and that eligible voters can participate in our democracy,” the spokesperson added.

The DSCC did not immediately respond to Fox News’s request for comment on the lawsuit.

Officials at the Department of the Interior are pushing to finalize a new “implementation handbook” to guide agency decision makers on how to “apply indigenous knowledge” in their day-to-day work. 

The notion of “indigenous knowledge” puts forward that Native groups possess an understanding about the natural world that others do not, due to their ethnic background.

The Interior Department’s new handbook supplements a Departmental Manual chapter added last year, entitled “Departmental Responsibilities for Consideration and Inclusion of Indigenous Knowledge in Departmental Actions and Scientific Research, 301 DM 7.” 

The aim of the new chapter in the agency-wide manual is to “equitably promote the inclusion of indigenous knowledge,” but this new supplemental handbook lays out methods for “applying” indigenous knowledge into departmental practices, such as scientific research, environmental compliance work, community resiliency and more. 

“This Handbook is not a step-by-step guide,” a draft version of the handbook states. “Instead, it includes context, approaches, and ways of engaging along with references to numerous existing resources where employees can learn more about a specific topic. The goal is for employees to have a foundation of knowledge to draw upon to create individualized processes as each situation arises in a respectful, equitable, and lasting way.”

US INTERIOR DEPARTMENT TO ALLOCATE MORE THAN $120 MILLION TO TRIBES TO ADDRESS CLIMATE-RELATED THREATS

One approach laid out in the handbook instructs employees to seek out indigenous “knowledge holders” to supplement their scientific research, including ensuring that there is enough project time allocated to adequately consider indigenous knowledge and compensating any “knowledge holders” for their participation. The guide also implores hiring mangers to consider employing these indigenous knowledge experts. 

When it comes to scientific research, some laws require the consideration of scientific information, methods and practices. However, the handbook points out that in some cases these statutes allow the inclusion of indigenous knowledge.

“In these cases,” the handbook posits, “Bureaus and Offices should include [indigenous knowledge] as an aspect of best available science when it is generally considered authoritative by the Indigenous Peoples who possess it.”

BIDEN APOLOGIZES FOR FEDERAL INDIAN BOARDING SCHOOLS: ‘ONE OF THE MOST HORRIFIC CHAPTERS IN AMERICAN HISTORY’

The nearly 150-page handbook includes a litany of other “approaches” to applying indigenous knowledge into the agency’s practices, including how to create “an ethical space to receive indigenous knowledge” and information about how to shield “sensitive” indigenous knowledge from public disclosure laws.

“President Biden came into office loudly stressing scientific integrity and creating new rules to supposedly ensure government scientific findings were never ‘distorted or influenced by political considerations.’ No matter how well-intentioned, elevating indigenous knowledge to being on a par with results obtained through rigorous application of the scientific method opens a Pandora’s box whereby desired results, even if at odds with reality, can be imposed to serve political ends,” Michael Chamberlain, director of the conservative nonprofit Protect The Public’s Trust, told Fox News Digital. 

Chamberlain and his nonprofit dug into how the Biden administration has implemented indigenous knowledge across the federal government, including through the use of public disclosure laws.   

“We’ve already seen [indigenous knowledge] in action as the Department of the Interior elevated indigenous knowledge that supported their position over indigenous knowledge that didn’t in canceling oil and gas leases in Alaska,” Chamberlain pointed out. “The fact that the administration explored ways to exempt indigenous knowledge from FOIA adds to the potential for misuse.”

BIDEN-HARRIS BORDER POLICIES WREAK HAVOC ON INDIGENOUS TRIBE, SAYS EXPERT: ‘PUSHED ASIDE AND DESTROYED’

Officials from the Department of the Interior declined to comment on the record for this story.

In 2022, the Biden administration’s Office of Science and Technology Policy unveiled federal guidance on utilizing indigenous knowledge across various sectors of the government. The guidance was also accompanied by an “implementation memorandum,” both of which the White House said, work to “value and, as appropriate, respectfully include Indigenous Knowledge” throughout government practices in order to “make the best scientific and policy decisions possible.”

From the sidelines of the 29th Conference of the Parties (COP29) in Baku, the Interior Department’s Acting Deputy Secretary Laura Daniel-Davis highlighted the agency’s commitment to incorporating indigenous knowledge and pointed out that the agency will be conducting consultations with tribal leaders and other indigenous knowledge holders in December to help finish fleshing out the details of the handbook before it is formally released. 

President-elect Trump nominated North Dakota Republican Gov. Doug Burgum to be the next head of the U.S. Interior Department, which manages public lands and minerals, national parks, wildlife refuges and any federal responsibilities to recognized Native American tribes across the country.

FIRST ON FOX: Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., summarized several points of “widespread consensus” within the Republican Senate conference to transform how the Senate GOP functions in the post-Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., era. 

“I believe that now is the time for dramatic change in the Senate and in Washington,” Scott wrote in a “Dear Colleague” letter to his fellow Republican senators on Tuesday. 

Scott ran to succeed McConnell as leader, competing against Senate Minority Whip John Thune, R-S.D., and Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas. Scott was knocked out of the secret ballot election after the first vote, during which he received the support of 13 of his colleagues.

MATT GAETZ ‘WORKING THE PHONES,’ SPEAKING TO GOP SENATORS DESPITE DIFFICULT CONFIRMATION ODDS

Thune ultimately defeated Cornyn on the second ballot, 29-24.

Scott reiterated to GOP senators that “President Trump won with a mandate, and it is now incumbent on us as Republican senators to respond to the clear wishes of the American people and implement his agenda and confirm his nominees.”

He then listed several items that he said had significant support within the conference going into the new Congress. 

First, Scott urged transparency among the Republican conference. “[S]top the surprises and create a plan to achieve our legislative goals that we can work on and schedule around,” he said. 

SENATE GOP INITIATES THUNE-ENGINEERED SLOW DOWN AS SCHUMER LOOKS TO STACK JUDICIAL VOTES

The Florida Republican also noted that there was “broad agreement” on the necessity of returning the Senate to “regular order,” during which legislation goes through the committee process rather than being brought immediately to the floor.

“The desire to empower Committee Chairs and have the work of our committees reflect the desire of the Conference.”

He also stressed the importance of and the popularity within the conference of “ending the cycle of omnibus spending deals and Continuing Resolutions and getting back to passing appropriations bills on time and through regular order.”

GOP CRIES FOUL ON DEM BORDER SPENDING BILL THEY SAY WOULD DRAG OUT MIGRANT CRISIS

The letter comes as Congress appears poised to pass another stopgap spending bill ahead of Christmas if individual appropriations bills are not approved. 

Scott additionally said the conference has expressed significant interest in improving “coordination with the House.” This will likely be made easier for Republicans in 2025, given that they will control both chambers. 

SPENDING BILL TROUBLE BREWS AS SEN MIKE LEE WARNS OF CHRISTMAS ‘SWAMPBUS’

Lastly, the Florida senator said Republicans largely want “to make sure that the [National Republican Senatorial Committee] NRSC and others focus on helping incumbents win their races and fight aggressively to support them throughout the cycle.” 

Notably, Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., nearly lost her traditionally safe Republican Senate seat to a dark horse independent candidate that targeted her as a career politician. 

“I look forward to working with each of you to accomplish our goals,” Scott concluded in the letter to colleagues. 

EXCLUSIVE: Trump officials told Fox News Digital that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s case is “effectively over” after Bragg requested a stay until 2029, celebrating the development as a “major victory” for President-elect Trump.

Bragg on Tuesday requested a stay in New York v. Trump until 2029, as the president’s attorneys motion to dismiss the case entirely. 

PROSECUTORS REQUEST STAY IN TRUMP NY CASE UNTIL 2029 AS DEFENSE PLANS MOTION FOR DISMISSAL ‘ONCE AND FOR ALL’

New York prosecutors said Tuesday that, while they are likely to oppose the argument, they are open to being briefed on Trump defense attorneys’ case for complete dismissal. 

“Prosecutors are trying to save face,” a Trump official told Fox News Digital. “They know this case will soon be thrown out.” 

Another official told Fox News Digital that New York prosecutors’ “fallback” is a “five-year delay.” 

“No serious person believes this case will withstand that,” the official said. 

Trump spokesman Steven Cheung also told Fox News Digital that Bragg’s request for a stay is “a total and definitive victory for President Trump and the American People who elected him in a landslide.” 

“The Manhattan DA has conceded that this Witch Hunt cannot continue,” Cheung, who was tapped to serve as White House communications director, said. “The lawless case is now stayed, and President Trump’s legal team is moving to get it dismissed once and for all.”

TRUMP REQUESTS NY JUDGE OVERTURN GUILTY VERDICT, INDICTMENT AFTER SCOTUS IMMUNITY RULING

Another source close to Trump and his legal team told Fox News Digital that Bragg’s move “represents a total failure of the prosecution.” 

“Their case is in shambles and now everyone knows it is on its way to the ash heap of history,” the source told Fox News Digital. “This thing is not coming back in five years — no one would argue it is.” 

“This case is effectively over,” the source said. “It is a major victory for President Trump.”

Trump pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree stemming from the years-long investigation related to alleged hush money payments run by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office. Former Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance initiated the investigation and Bragg prosecuted Trump. 

After an unprecedented six-week trial in New York City, a jury found the president guilty on all counts. 

Judge Juan Merchan last week granted a stay on all deadlines associated with conviction proceedings against Trump in the final weeks before he is sworn in as the 47th president of the United States – including the Nov. 26 sentencing date. 

But Trump attorneys have requested that Merchan overturn the guilty verdict altogether, citing the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision that former presidents have substantial immunity from prosecution for official acts in office.

Trump’s legal team argued that certain evidence presented by Bragg and New York prosecutors during the trial should not have been admitted, as they were “official acts.” 

WHERE DOES TRUMP’S NEW YORK SENTENCING STAND AFTER MASSIVE ELECTION WIN?

Specifically, Trump attorney Todd Blanche, who the president nominated to serve as deputy attorney general at the Justice Department, argued that testimony from former White House communications director Hope Hicks; former special assistant to the president Madeleine Westerhout; testimony regarding the Special Counsel’s Office and congressional investigations and the pardon power; testimony regarding President Trump’s response to FEC Inquiries; his presidential Twitter posts and other related testimony was impermissably admitted during trial. 

Trump attorneys also pointed to Trump’s disclosures to the Office of Government Ethics as president. 

Blanche said “official-acts evidence” that Bragg presented to the grand jury “contravened the holding in Trump because Presidents ‘cannot be indicted based on conduct for which they are immune from prosecution,'” the motion read. “The Presidential immunity doctrine recognized in Trump pertains to all ‘criminal proceedings,’ including grand jury proceedings when a prosecutor ‘seeks to charge’ a former President using evidence of official acts.”

Blanche argued that Bragg “violated the Presidential immunity doctrine by using similar official-acts evidence in the grand jury proceedings that gave rise to the politically motivated charges in this case.” 

“Because an Indictment so tainted cannot stand, the charges must be dismissed,” Blanche argued. 

Blanche also explained that the Supreme Court’s decision does not allow for an “overwhelming evidence” or “harmless error” exception to “the profound institutional interests at stake.” 

The Supreme Court’s 6-3 decision on presidential immunity came from a question that stemmed from charges brought against Trump in a separate, federal case brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith related to the events on Jan. 6, 2021 and any alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

Trump pleaded not guilty to all charges in that case. 

Smith is winding down his cases against Trump following his election as the 47th president. 

Smith’s classified records case against Trump was dismissed earlier this year by a federal judge in Florida who ruled that the special counsel was unlawfully appointed. 

Merchan has not yet ruled on the immunity argument, which prosecutors anticipate being included in the coming dismissal motion from the defense. 

Discouraging Americans from being vaccinated is “very disturbing” and would result in “more severe illness and death in children,” a top U.S. health official told lawmakers Tuesday following President-elect Trump’s nomination of Robert F. Kennedy to lead the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. 

National Institutes of Health Director Monica Bertagnolli made the comments after Rep. Lois Frankel, D-Fla., told her that she’s concerned “there’s been some talk by some who might have leadership positions in next administration of discouraging vaccination. 

“Could you tell me what would be the downside if our children specifically were not vaccinated?” Frankel asked Bertagnolli. 

“If you go back 100 years ago, the leading cause of death – and it was dramatic – was infectious disease. And why did that change? Vaccination, that is the single reason,” Bertagnolli told the House Appropriations Committee. 

DEM REP. ROBERT GARCIA SAYS RFK. JR. NOMINATION FOR HEALTH SECRETARY IS ‘F—— INSANE,’ WILL ‘COST LIVES’ 

“And it’s been even in my career, my lifetime that I have also seen individuals who unfortunately were in the womb when their mother got rubella – terrible congenital malformations that happened. So it’s not just the consequences even for the individual – it can be mother to child and then finally across society when we see the spread of infectious disease,” Bertagnolli continued. 

“What we will see immediately if all vaccination suddenly stops, we will see much more severe illness and death in children,” she also said. 

OPINION: RFK. JR. WANTS TO DISRUPT OUR POWERFUL HEALTH CARE COMPLEX AND IT IS TERRIFIED 

Kennedy rose to prominence as a skeptic of vaccines, voicing concerns about their impact. 

“Look around the world because there are other places in the world that have this, that do not have widespread vaccination of their populations, and look at the tragedies that we see there. I think it would be very disturbing,” Bertagnolli added Tuesday. 

U.S. Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., has called the choice of RFK Jr. to lead HHS “f—— insane.” 

“The RFK as Health Secretary appointment is f—— insane,” he wrote on X. “He’s a vaccine denier and a tin foil hat conspiracy theorist. He will destroy our public health infrastructure and our vaccine distribution systems. This is going to cost lives.” 

Kennedy aligned with Trump after ending his own independent run for president, and Trump added the promise “make America healthy again” to his campaign.

Fox News’ Louis Casiano contributed to this report. 

FIRST ON FOX: South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham sent a letter to each of the 51 former intelligence officials who signed a memo suggesting the Hunter Biden laptop had the hallmarks of Russian disinformation. 

“In your letter, you claimed that the laptop story was ‘Russia trying to influence how Americans vote,’” Graham’s letter read to former CIA directors Leon Panetta and Michael Hayden, former Director of National Intelligence [DNI] James Clapper and 48 others. 

“I ask you to respond publicly to one simple question: if you knew then what you know now about the laptop, would you still have signed the October 19, 2020 letter?” 

Graham, a Republican, has previously suggested yanking the security clearances of officials who signed the letter. 

Vice President-elect JD Vance pledged during the campaign that the incoming Trump administration would strip the clearances of all 51 signatories. 

REPUBLICAN SENATOR SAYS TRUMP SHOULD NOT PARDON HUNTER BIDEN

Over the summer, Fox News Digital asked all 51 officials whether they regretted signing on to the now-debunked letter. 

“No,” Obama-era DNI James Clapper responded. 

Mark Zaid, an attorney representing seven of the signatories, said it was “patriotic” for his clients to sign on to the letter. 

“There continues to be by many a calculated or woefully ignorant interpretation of the October 2020 letter signed by fifty-one former intelligence officials concerning Hunter Biden’s laptop,” Zaid said. 

Greg Treverton, a signatory who previously served as chair of the National Intelligence Council, defended the letter in a statement to Fox News Digital. 

BIDEN COMMITTED ‘IMPEACHABLE CONDUCT,’ DEFRAUDED UNITED STATES TO ENRICH HIS FAMILY’: HOUSE GOP REPORT

“This is very old news,” Treverton said. “What we said was true, we were inferring from our experience, and it did look like a Russian operation. We didn’t, and couldn’t, of course, say it was a Russian operation. Enough said.”

The now-infamous letter had said their national security experience had made them “deeply suspicious that the Russian government played a significant role in this case.”

“If we are right,” they added, “this is Russia trying to influence how Americans vote in this election, and we believe strongly that Americans need to be aware of this.”

Despite claims from former officials that the laptop had the hallmarks of Russian disinformation, Fox News Digital reported that federal investigators with the Department of Justice knew in December 2019 that Hunter Biden’s laptop was “not manipulated in any way” and contained “reliable evidence,” but were “obstructed” from seeing all available information, according to an IRS whistleblower involved in the probe – nearly a year before the former intelligence officials and President Joe Biden declared it was part of a Russian disinformation campaign.

The laptop was introduced into evidence in a Delaware courtroom last week by prosecutor Derek Hines and handed to FBI agent Erika Jensen, who had earlier explained how the FBI authenticated the laptop and extracted data. In the gun trial, she testified about dozens of text messages, metadata, photos and short videos found on phones and iCloud accounts belonging to Hunter Biden. 

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis must appoint a replacement for outgoing Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, who was tapped by President-elect Trump to serve as secretary of state in his new administration. 

The Republican governor, who once ran against Trump in the 2024 election, is reportedly mulling several options. Among contenders being floated by party members, according to The Associated Press, is the president-elect’s daughter-in-law Lara Trump, who serves as co-chair of the Republican National Committee. Lara Trump previously considered running for U.S. Senate in North Carolina, where she grew up, but made way for her father-in-law to ultimately back Sen. Tedd Budd’s successful 2022 bid for the upper chamber. 

Other names being mentioned by Republicans include Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nuñez, Florida’s Attorney General Ashley Moody, former Florida House Speaker Paul Renner, DeSantis’s chief of staff James Uthmeier, and former state House Speaker Jose Oliva. 

Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., is among those who voiced his support for Lara Trump on social media. 

DESANTIS SETS TIMETABLE FOR NAMING RUBIO SENATE SUCCESSOR AMID CALLS FOR A TRUMP TO FILL THE SEAT

“We need more Republicans in Washington who actually represent the Republican Party back home and will be steadfast in their commitment to fulfill the mandate from this election – to Make America Great Again. @LaraLeaTrump is that person,” Scott, who unsuccessfully ran for Senate majority leader last week, wrote on X. 

Lara Trump lives in Palm Beach County with her husband, Eric Trump.

Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Katie Britt of Alabama, as well as Rep. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida, have also voiced support for Lara Trump as Rubio’s replacement in recent days. 

“If I am tapped to serve in another capacity, it truly would be my honor,” Lara Trump told Fox News over the weekend. “I have not been asked yet, but I certainly would strongly consider it if it is presented to me.”

Some Republican politicos say appointing a member of the president-elect’s family to the Senate is a way for DeSantis to curry favor with his onetime rival for the GOP’s presidential nomination, and score a win with Trump’s dedicated supporters as the governor considers his own political future, according to The Associated Press. The pick could also give Florida another direct line to the Trump White House.

TRUMP NOMINATES MARCO RUBIO TO SERVE AS SECRETARY OF STATE

DeSantis, a one-time Trump ally who clashed with the former president last year and early this year during a very contentious 2024 GOP presidential nomination race, mended relations a bit with the former president after the primary season. He endorsed Trump and helped raise money for the Republican nominee’s general election campaign.

DeSantis said on Monday that he was vetting several prospects and would likely make a decision on Rubio’s replacement by early January. 

“Senator Marco Rubio is expected to resign from the Senate to assume duties as Secretary of State when the Trump administration takes power on January 20th, creating a vacancy roughly two months from today,” DeSantis wrote on X on Monday. “We have already received strong interest from several possible candidates, and we continue to gather names of additional candidates and conduct preliminary vetting.”

“More extensive vetting and candidate interviews will be conducted over the next few weeks, with a selection likely made by the beginning of January,” he wrote. “Florida deserves a Senator who will help President Trump deliver on his election mandate, be strong on immigration and border security, take on the entrenched bureaucracy and administrative state, reverse the nation’s fiscal decline, be animated by conservative principles, and has a proven record of results.” 

Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

Former Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, who President-elect Trump announced as his selection to be attorney general during his second term, is making calls to Senate Republicans ahead of his confirmation hearing next year. 

Several GOP senators told reporters this week that they spoke with Gaetz by phone since Trump picked him to lead the Department of Justice (DOJ). 

A source familiar told Fox News Digital that the former congressman “is dedicated to winning the support of senators for his nomination for the attorney general,” noting that “he has been working the phones.”

SENATE GOP INITIATES THUNE-ENGINEERED SLOW DOWN AS SCHUMER LOOKS TO STACK JUDICIAL VOTES

Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., said Monday night that he spoke with Gaetz days prior. “He called me,” he said. “Very brief conversation.”

The senator would not divulge any additional information about their call. Mullin and Gaetz have had a tense relationship in the past, and the senator slammed him in an interview at the time, bringing up allegations that he had slept with an underage girl. 

“There’s a reason why no one in the conference came and defended him because we had all seen the videos he was showing on the House floor… of the girls that he had slept with. He’d brag about how he would crush [erectile dysfunction] medicine and chase it with an energy drink so he could go all night,” he said at the time. 

GOP CRIES FOUL ON DEM BORDER SPENDING BILL THEY SAY WOULD DRAG OUT MIGRANT CRISIS

Gaetz denied Mullin’s claim when he made it. Gaetz has not been convicted of charges related to these allegations. He was previously under a yearlong investigation by the DOJ that was prompted by allegations that he had a sexual relationship with a minor. However, the DOJ ultimately decided against pressing any charges. 

The comments came amid former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s removal, which Gaetz was partially credited with. 

Mullin recently said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” the Senate should “absolutely” have access to the House Ethics report that probed allegations into Gaetz, including sexual misconduct, illicit drug use and accepting improper gifts. 

Not every Republican senator has been willing to go as far, with many being vague about whether senators should see it or will ultimately see the report during a confirmation hearing. 

SPENDING BILL TROUBLE BREWS AS SEN MIKE LEE WARNS OF CHRISTMAS ‘SWAMPBUS’

Mullin, a close ally of Trump in the Senate, said he hasn’t spoken to the president-elect about the selection of Gaetz.  

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., also said he spoke to Gaetz. “Had a nice chat with Matt Gaetz over the weekend,” he revealed on Monday. “He wants to have the chance to clear his name in a hearing. And I think that’s a great idea.”

“And I think we ought to have a hearing. I think we ought to move to it as quickly as we can in the new Congress.”

“The other night, before I left for the weekend, I don’t know about 10:30 or 11, I got a phone call from Congressman Gaetz, and I congratulated him, and he said, ‘Will I get a fair shake in the Senate?’” Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., said. 

“And I said, ‘Absolutely. Just come on over, answer all the questionnaires, tell us the truth, tell us what your plans are for the agency, and I’m looking forward to it, and I hope you are too.'”

THUNE ‘ADAMANT’ ABOUT TRUMP SUPPORT, DRIVING MAGA AGENDA DESPITE TENSE PAST RELATIONSHIP

Kennedy said the conversation was quick and that the two don’t have plans for an in-person meeting yet. 

A source familiar told Fox News Digital that Vice President-elect JD Vance is planning to make the rounds on Capitol Hill this week, scheduling meetings with key Republican senators and Trump Cabinet nominees Gaetz and Pete Hegseth, who was selected by the preisdent-elect to run the Department of Defense (DOD.)

“President Trump’s incoming administration is moving at an accelerated schedule in order to make good on getting key nominees confirmed in order to start delivering for the American people. Rep. Collins (VA), Rep. Gaetz (DOJ), Pete Hegseth (DOD), and Rep. Stefanik (UN) will all begin their meetings this week with additional Hill visits to continue after the Thanksgiving recess,” Brian Hughes, a Trump-Vance Transition spokesman, said in a statement to Fox News Digital.

Gaetz faces an uphill battle when it comes to a potential confirmation in the Senate, as it would take just a handful of Republican votes to deny him. The Senate GOP will only have a 53-person majority next year and several GOP senators have already expressed concerns about Gaetz. 

“He will never get confirmed,” a Republican senator, granted anonymity to speak freely, told Fox News Digital after Trump’s selection was revealed.

One Senate Republican source simply said, “Ain’t gonna happen,” about the prospect of Gaetz’s confirmation.