President-elect Donald Trump nominated former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) to be his attorney general, and Gaetz was then immediately beset with a flurry of attacks from Democrats and the media based on unproven allegations of supposed sex crimes and illicit drug use.

In the view of Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), however, the whole situation with Gaetz is eerily reminiscent of how Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh was similarly attacked over unproven allegations of sexual misconduct when he was first nominated by then-President Trump in 2018, according to Radio Iowa.

The Iowa senator, who will likely preside over Gaetz's confirmation hearings as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee once Republicans hold the majority next year, said he will handle those the same way that he handled the Kavanaugh hearings and will keep an "open mind" about Trump's nominee to head up the Justice Department.

The allegations against Gaetz

On November 13, President-elect Trump announced on social media that he had picked then-Congressman Gaetz, a loyal and outspoken ally, to be his attorney general, and the attacks from the left commenced almost immediately.

Per Axios, Gaetz faces vague accusations from anonymous accusers of paying multiple women for sex, including an alleged minor who was 17 at the time, and consuming illicit drugs at parties.

The DOJ reportedly investigated those allegations for years but never filed any charges, likely because of the lack of any credibility for Gaetz's accusers or any corroboration of the claims against him.

Likewise, the House Ethics Committee had been probing the matter and was set to release a report, but Gaetz resigned from Congress immediately after he was nominated -- ostensibly ending the committee's investigation of a member -- and raising the question of whether the supposedly impending report should be publicly released or not.

Grassley likens Gaetz allegations to Kavanaugh confirmation fiasco

Radio Iowa reported that Sen. Grassley, when asked about the prospect of overseeing the confirmation hearings for AG nominee Gaetz, said, "The vetting process is very thorough. I think I proved that with the Kavanaugh nomination for the courts. The Constitution gives the president the right to appoint, and with the mandate that he got, any president would have the right to have their nominees considered."

"We had 25 or more people, maybe 26 or 27, that came forward after Kavanaugh had his hearings, people in opposition to Kavanaugh, trying to stir up a reason why he shouldn’t be on the Supreme Court," the senator continued. "Every one of those proved to have no basis."

As for the debate over whether the House Ethics Committee's report on Gaetz should be publicly released or at least shared with the Senate Judiciary Committee, Grassley declined to take a definitive position but seemed to indicate that the committee would be receptive to reviewing it.

"I think I better not interfere with the House of Representatives, what they decide that their committee will do, because they’re going to meet this week to make that decision," he said. "Obviously, my investigating committee, my vetting committee, is going to want as much information as we can get on these nominees."

"Baseless allegations intended to derail" Trump's nominees

According to a CBS News report in 2018, at least three women came forward publicly with bold but vague allegations of sexual misconduct against then-Judge Kavanaugh during his circus-like Senate confirmation hearings that in many respects looked more like a highly coordinated smear campaign and witch trial on the Democratic side of the Judiciary Committee.

However, as Sen. Grassley alluded to, there was "no basis" or any corroboration of the unspecific accusations of sexual assault and other misconduct that allegedly occurred decades earlier, which Kavanaugh categorically denied, and he was ultimately confirmed to the Supreme Court.

Republicans had cried foul at the time and staunchly defended the besieged nominee, and at least some appear to be doing so again for Gaetz, as a spokesperson for the Trump transition team told Axios that Gaetz was "right man for the job" and would "be the next attorney general," and added, "These are baseless allegations intended to derail the second Trump administration. The Biden Justice Department investigated Gaetz for years and cleared him of wrongdoing."