President-elect Trump's announcement that he will nominate Matt Gaetz to be his attorney general demonstrated Trump's intent to radically change a Department of Justice that he sees as corrupt, but the move promised immediate blowback over Gaetz's own corruption and ethics controversies.
Calling the intended nomination "provocative," the New York Times reported that Trump wanted to install a compliant ally at the helm of the Justice Department as he seeks retribution against those who prosecuted him. The pick reflected Trump’s determination to choose as the nation’s top law enforcement official a fierce defender who would not resist his directives or question his claims, as William P. Barr, his last confirmed attorney general, did in the aftermath of the 2020 election, and as his first AG, Jeff Sessions, did in resisting Trump's calls to cut short the Russia investigation.
Trump finalized his decision to pick Gaetz as they traveled together Wednesday, the Washington Post reported, quoting people familiar with the process. Gaetz’s name had not appeared in early reports about contenders for the role, who included former acting U.S. attorney general Matt Whitaker, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey.
Gaetz, a Florida Republican, abruptly resigned from his House seat late Wednesday, effectively ending the ethics investigation that has hung over his head for years, the Times reported. The House Ethics Committee, which has been investigating allegations that Gaetz engaged in sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, was prepared to vote to release a highly critical report about Gaetz on Friday, according to a Republican official familiar with the matter.
That investigation grew out of a lengthy criminal probe by the DOJ that ended without charges.
As a member of the House Judiciary Committee, Gaetz frequently pressured Biden administration officials over the Trump prosecutions, investigations into Biden’s son Hunter, prosecutions of Trump supporters who breached the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and communication with social media companies about online misinformation. “He wants someone who will go to war for him,” said one ally, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to speak candidly.
In his post on Truth Social announcing his pick, Trump wrote, "Matt will end Weaponized Government, protect our Borders, dismantle Criminal Organizations and restore Americans' badly-shattered Faith and Confidence in the Justice Department."
First, though, Trump will test the faith of his Republican Senate supporters, who hold a slim majority and where rumblings and outright dissent were immediately evident.
Some Republicans on Capitol Hill recoiled from Trump’s announcement that he was nominating Gaetz for attorney general, with two GOP senators openly voicing concerns and some of the president-elect’s loyal allies panning the pick, Politico reported.
Swing-vote GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said she doesn’t “think it’s a serious nomination for the attorney general.” Another, Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), told reporters she was “shocked” by Gaetz’s selection. And Trump ally Rep. Max Miller (R-Ohio) called it “a reckless pick.”
Generally, Senate Republicans largely refrained from wading into whether Gaetz — who the Department of Justice investigated for years over allegations that he engaged in sex with underage girls and paid for their transportation — could be confirmed. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) rolled his eyes and Sens. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) and Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) declined to comment.
Incoming Senate Judiciary Chair Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) brushed off questions about Gaetz specifically, instead outlining what he’d like to see in an attorney general.
“All I’m interested in [for] who’s the next attorney general: Is he going to fight crime, enforce the law, and will he answer the forty letters that this Justice Department has not answered on my investigations?” Grassley said, ignoring questions on Gaetz’s involvement in a sex trafficking probe.
Commentators and critics have been less restrained. Many current and former Justice Department officials were stunned and furious about what the pick suggested about Trump’s plans, the Times reported.
David Laufman, a former department official under both Republican and Democratic administrations, described the selection in ominous terms. It is “a shocking harbinger that Trump will try to subjugate the Justice Department to his political will,” he said.
“This is completely wild. It’s so out of bounds, it’s just shocking,” one career DOJ lawyer, who was granted anonymity, told Politico. “He’s there for one purpose: to enact retribution. I’m pretty sure he doesn’t have a grand vision about the future of the department. I can’t imagine how this isn’t going to scare people even more.”
Conservative Trump critic David French, a New York Times opinion columnist, called Gaetz a "vengeful loyalist," writing that the nomination shows Trump "is going to govern with a sense of vengeance, and personal loyalty really is the coin of his realm. Gaetz’s nomination is particularly dreadful. He isn’t just the least-qualified attorney general in American history (he barely practiced law before running for elected office and has served mainly as a MAGA gadfly in Congress), he’s also remarkably dishonest and depraved."
Liberal legal analyst Mark Joseph Stern wrote at Slate, "Trump’s desire to nominate Gaetz for attorney general marks an effort to simultaneously degrade and weaponize the DOJ, subverting its mission of principled, nonpartisan law enforcement while punishing those who pursued charges against Trump (and, perhaps, against Gaetz himself). It is a shocking choice, surely by design, that reflects an obvious desire to corrupt the agency from the top down. If Gaetz is confirmed, it’s no exaggeration to say that the Justice Department will be permanently damaged, as civil servants flee (or face termination), partisan loyalists take their place, and the entire agency reorients around settling old scores against Trump’s perceived enemies. If Senate Republicans do not draw the line here, then a line does not exist. ... If Senate Republicans can’t say no to Gaetz, the Department of Justice as we know it will be gone, quite possibly forever."