So, um, this pick…I don’t even know.
Yes, President-elect Donald Trump nominated Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) for attorney general. Trump wrote:
Matt is a deeply gifted and tenacious attorney, trained at the William & Mary College of Law, who has distinguished himself in Congress through his focus on achieving desperately needed reform at the Department of Justice. Few issues in America are more important than ending the partisan Weaponization of our Justice System. Matt will end Weaponized Government, protect our Borders, dismantle Criminal Organizations and restore Americans’ badly-shattered Faith and Confidence in the Justice Department. On the House Judiciary Committee, which performs oversight of DOJ, Matt played a key role in defeating the Russia, Russia, Russia Hoax, and exposing alarming and systemic Government Corruption and Weaponization. He is a Champion for the Constitution and the Rule of Law. Matt will root out the systemic corruption at DOJ, and return the Department to its true mission of fighting Crime, and upholding our Democracy and Constitution. We must have Honesty, Integrity, and Transparency at DOJ. Under Matt’s leadership, all Americans will be proud of the Department of Justice once again.
I doubt Gaetz gets confirmed. I doubt moderate and left-leaning Republicans like Sens. Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski vote to confirm him.
Moderate Sen. Todd Young (R-IN) didn’t answer questions about Gaetz. He only expressed his excitement for Sen. Marco Rubio’s nomination as secretary of state.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) described Gaetz as a “smart-clever guy.”
Graham added: “I usually support presidential picks to be in their cabinet. I’ve done that for both sides. That’s my disposition.”
Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) said Gaetz has “his work cut out for him.”
The House Ethics Committee has been investigating Gaetz since 2021. He allegedly engaged in “sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, shared inappropriate images or videos on the House floor, misused state identification records, converted campaign funds to personal use and accepted impermissible gifts under House rules.”
House Ethics Committee Chairman Michael Guest said that if he’s confirmed as AG or resigns, the inquiries will end. But he reminded everyone that happens to anyone if they retire, resign, or lose re-election.
Alan Feuer at The New York Times is obsessed with connecting the “Proud Boys” to Trump and Gaetz.
He brings it up in two posts on the live blog:
When Matt Gaetz attended Trump’s criminal trial in Manhattan earlier this year, he adopted language that Trump himself used to call out the Proud Boys during a presidential debate. “Standing back and standing by, Mr. President,” Gaetz wrote on X.
Someone tell Feuer that Gaetz was more than likely mocking the media for taking Trump’s comments out of context.
Also:
Gaetz not only voted with about 150 of his Republican colleagues to overturn Trump’s defeat in the 2020 election. He also took part in what prosecutors have suggested was a dry run for the “Stop the Steal” efforts that year, protesting the results of a hotly contested Senate race in Florida with members of the Proud Boys and other Trump supporters.
Give it a rest, bro.
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