Fox News’ Chad Pergram Says It’s ‘Possible’ Matt Gaetz Returns to the Next Congress — Notes That Ethics Report Isn’t Going Away

Fox News’s Senior Congressional Correspondent Chad Pergram explained on Thursday that Matt Gaetz could return to Congress despite the fact that he resigned from his seat last week after President-elect Donald Trump nominated him to be attorney general.

Pergram joined anchors Sandra Smith and John Roberts just minutes after Gaetz announced he was dropping his scandal-plagued bid to be confirmed as AG.

“Okay. So as far as a return to Congress, what are you hearing?” Smith asked.

“Well, we haven’t heard anything yet. It is, in fact, possible. And I should note that if this Ethics Committee report comes out, that work pertains to this Congress. So you would have to start again, maybe that Ethics Committee work on this,” Pergram replied, adding:

The Ethics Committee indicated that they were going to meet about this again on December 5th. And I pressed some questions to Mike Johnson, the speaker of the House, about that Ethics Committee report this morning. Listen.

Gaetz could potentially return to the House as his resignation pertained to the current Congress and he has already been elected to the next Congress, which will be sworn-in come January. Gaetz has been under investigation by the House Ethics Committee over allegations of sexual misconduct with a minor and drug use.

Pergram then played his earlier conversation with House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA):

PERGRAM: And categorically you never spoke to the Ethics Committee members or Mr. Guest saying don’t put this out, this looks bad. This was a problem for Mr. Trump’s nominee.

JOHNSON: I did not. I’ve been very careful to stay out of that. I’m not going to stay neutral and not put a thumb on the scale, so to speak, in these investigations.

“So what remains unclear is whether or not there could be still a vote in the House of Representatives sometime after the Thanksgiving recess to try to pry that Ethics Committee report loose,” Pergram continued, adding:

Regardless of the status of Matt Gaetz, but obviously, some of the concern about that now is diminished significantly because he’s not going to serve as attorney general. Remember that there were Republicans and Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee who wanted to see that report as part of their inquiry, their probe into it, providing advice and consent for the next attorney general of the United States.

And I think the big question right now, Sandra and John, is whether or not the Trump team wanted to burn all of this political capital on Matt Gaetz when they have other controversial picks. Pete Hegseth, he is up here today. He’s up for defense secretary. He’s meeting with senators. JD Vance was here again today. That’s going to be a tough one. Tulsi Gabbard, to be the director of national intelligence, that’s going to be a challenging one. But most people up here did not think that Matt Gaetz would ever have the votes to be confirmed.

Watch the clip above via Fox News.