Senate Judiciary Chairman Richard J. Durbin wants the panel to have access to a House Ethics Committee report on former Rep. Matt Gaetz, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for attorney general, as it considers his nomination. 

Mr. Gaetz, Florida Republican, resigned from Congress Wednesday after Mr. Trump nominated him for attorney general when he takes over the executive branch Jan. 20.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, Louisiana Republican, told reporters that Mr. Gaetz resigned to ensure a Florida special election to replace him could be held quickly so Republicans, who will again hold a narrow House majority next Congress, don’t have to deal with the vacancy for long. 

Mr. Gaetz’s resignation also comes two days before the House Ethics Committee was scheduled to vote to release a “highly damaging” report on its investigation into him, Punchbowl News reported. 

The panel was investigating whether Mr. Gaetz engaged in sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, accepted improper gifts, dispensed special privileges and favors and/or tried to obstruct government probes of his conduct. 

Because Mr. Gaetz resigned as a member of Congress, the Ethics Committee no longer has jurisdiction to investigate him and is unlikely to be able to release its report. 

Mr. Durbin is calling on the ethics panel to preserve and share the report, along with all relevant documentation from the investigation, with the Senate Judiciary Committee, which will conduct his confirmation proceedings next Congress. 

“The sequence and timing of Mr. Gaetz’s resignation from the House raises serious questions about the contents of the House Ethics Committee report,” the Illinois senator said. “We cannot allow this valuable information from a bipartisan investigation to be hidden from the American people. Make no mistake: This information could be relevant to the question of Mr. Gaetz’s confirmation as the next attorney general of the United States and our constitutional responsibility of advice and consent.”

Mr. Durbin will be the ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee next Congress when Republicans take over the Senate majority. 

Mr. Johnson was caught off guard by the timing of Mr. Gaetz’s resignation. He told a Fox News reporter on Thursday he was “surprised” to learn the Ethics Committee was planning to release the Gaetz report as soon as this week. 

“The speaker’s not involved in what happens in [the Ethics Committee]. Lots of important reasons for that,” he said. “So, yeah, that was news to me.”