Trump picks Rep. Matt Gaetz to serve as attorney general

CNN

By Hannah Rabinowitz, Holmes Lybrand, Annie Grayer, Evan Perez and Katelyn Polantz, CNN

(CNN) — President-elect Donald Trump has chosen Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida to serve as his attorney general.

“Few issues in America are more important than ending the partisan Weaponization of our Justice System,” Trump wrote Wednesday in a post on his Truth Social platform. “Matt will end Weaponized Government, protect our Borders, dismantle Criminal Organizations and restore Americans’ badly-shattered Faith and Confidence in the Justice Department.”

Gaetz, a Trump loyalist and conservative representative from Florida, had spent several days at Mar-a-Lago over the past week, two sources familiar with his plans told CNN, and he flew to Washington with Trump on his private plane Wednesday. He said in an X post on the heels of the announcement that it would “be an honor to serve” in the role.

The selection, which will be subject to Senate approval once Gaetz is formally nominated by Trump, sets up the potential for a provocative confirmation process. If confirmed, Gaetz would take over the nation’s top law enforcement agency – the same one that pursued a yearslong sex-crimes investigation into the congressman. The Justice Department ultimately decided last year not to pursue criminal charges against him.

Gaetz has a relatively limited amount of experience as a practicing lawyer, especially compared to other recent attorneys general who had experience as top prosecutors, judges or nationally prominent defense lawyers. Instead, much of his professional career after graduating from the College of William & Mary Law School has been as a politician.

The role of attorney general will be crucial to Trump’s vision for his second term and will help enforce the president-elect’s policy on immigration, reproductive health and the political retribution he vowed on the campaign trail.

Trump has claimed that he wants to gut the justice system as part of an effort to break down legal restrictions and traditional protections against political interference, CNN has reported.

Gaetz has long accused the Justice Department of being weaponized under President Joe Biden against conservatives including Trump and has called for abolishing the DOJ and FBI barring significant changes.

A member of the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, Gaetz has accused the FBI of going “far beyond” what the law allows in surveillance, calling for limits on its authorities.

“We either get this government back on our side, or we defund and get rid of, abolish the FBI, the CDC, ATF, DOJ, every last one of them if they do not come to heel,” Gaetz said at the Conservative Political Action Conference in 2023.

Gaetz has also criticized the rank-and-file personnel at the Justice Department, saying that outsiders — including from state attorneys general offices — should be brought into the department.

“You can’t just have the same career people who have grown up in a system that has fallen victim to political capture,” he said in an interview this summer.

As an outspoken critic of the department, Gaetz has lambasted prosecutions of Trump and January 6 rioters. He cheered the dismissal of a criminal case the DOJ brought against Trump last year that alleged he mishandled classified documents and obstructed justice. And on the first anniversary of the US Capitol attack, he said it “wasn’t an insurrection.”

Gaetz resigns from House seat

House Speaker Mike Johnson announced Wednesday evening that Gaetz had resigned from Congress as he prepares for the attorney general confirmation process. He did so, Johnson said, in hopes that Republicans could fill his seat in time for the new Congress that starts on January 3, where Republicans are expected to have a very narrow majority.

CNN has reached out to Gaetz about his resignation.

House Ethics Chair Michael Guest had said ahead of Gaetz’s resignation that the ongoing ethics investigation into the congressman related to sexual misconduct would end if he resigned his seat, as the panel only has jurisdiction over a member when they are serving in Congress.

“If he were to be appointed, then he would have to resign his position in the House so the ethics investigation at that point would cease, just like with any other member, we only have jurisdiction being the ethics committee, as long as a person is a member of Congress,” Guest, a Mississippi Republican, told CNN.

The bipartisan committee said in a rare statement in June that some of the allegations against Gaetz “merit continued review.” Those allegations, the committee said at the time, included that Gaetz may have “engaged in sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, accepted improper gifts, dispensed special privileges and favors to individuals with whom he had a personal relationship, and sought to obstruct government investigations of his conduct.”

Gaetz has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, including ever having sex with a minor or paying for sex.

The Justice Department had deemed files in its sex trafficking investigation against Gaetz too sensitive to release even to congressional investigators, declining to provide the House Ethics Committee with documents that the panel subpoenaed because they contain sensitive details of young women who were witnesses, people briefed on the matter said.

As attorney general, Gaetz would be in control of those investigative files that detail the evidence the FBI uncovered.

The criminal investigation began during the Trump administration, and one person familiar with the matter said it wasn’t a difficult decision at the Justice Department to open the investigation of a sitting congressman. But two years later, the Justice Department under President Joe Biden declined to bring criminal charges against the congressman.

CNN previously reported that Gaetz sought a broad preemptive pardon for himself near the end of Trump’s first term, but his request was never seriously considered by the White House. Gaetz has denied that he ever sought a pardon.

Guest declined Wednesday to comment on the status of the separate House Ethics probe into Gaetz but said he was surprised to learn Trump had selected him for the role.

“You know, like most members, I was surprised. His name was not someone that I had heard come up previously. But you know, like with any other Cabinet-level selection, there’ll be a confirmation process, and so if any of the senators have questions about his or any other Cabinet members’ ability to serve, those questions will be figured out during that confirmation process,” he said.

Despite being surprised by the pick, Guest said he wasn’t questioning Trump.

“You know, I’m not going to question the president on his selections, whether it be attorney general or any other Cabinet-level position,” he added.

Controversial selection sends shockwaves

There was an audible reaction inside the Justice Department headquarters when Trump announced his intention to nominate Gaetz as attorney general, a department employee told CNN.

“The shock is intense,” the employee said.

Several blocks away at the US attorney’s office in Washington, DC, there was “absolute disbelief” at the announcement, a person in touch with multiple prosecutors there told CNN.

The announcement also came as House Republicans were meeting behind closed doors to hold their leadership elections.

According to a source in the room, there was an audible gasp from members the moment they learned of Trump’s selection, and lawmakers continued to express surprise as they trickled out of their conference meeting.

“I got really no good comment,” Republican Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska said.

Oklahoma Rep. Tom Cole, the chair of House Appropriations, told reporters, “I know nothing about it.”

At least one staunch Trump ally, however, told reporters that the president-elect should try to confirm Gaetz through recess appointment if he can’t get confirmed by the Senate.

“He’s the attorney general, suck it up,” Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky told reporters.

Asked whether he thought Gaetz would get 50 votes if he goes before the Senate, Massie said that “he doesn’t have to,” and called on Trump to use recess appointment power.

Multiple Republican senators were blindsided by Trump’s announcement, sources familiar with the matter told CNN.

Incoming Senate GOP leader vows full vetting

Incoming Senate Majority Leader John Thune, who was selected in the party’s leadership elections earlier in the day, declined to say whether he was concerned about the pick and if he thought Gaetz could be confirmed. He promised the Senate will “vet” and “look at” all of Trump’s nominees during the confirmation process.

“We’re gonna vet and process and look at all the noms when they come forward and we’ll see,” he told CNN. “That’s all going to happen in the next few weeks.”

Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso, who was elected earlier Wednesday to the No. 2 Republican leadership post in the next Congress, called the selection a “bold” pick but declined to say whether Gaetz could earn Senate confirmation.

“The president is going to make bold decisions and appointments. I am looking forward to the hearings and getting his Cabinet in place,” Barrasso said.

Other top Senate Republicans, however, expressed uncertainty over whether they would back the Florida congressman for the role.

South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, a senior member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, was noncommittal on the nomination.

“I don’t know yet. I’ll have to think about that one,” he told CNN, adding, “We’ll see” when pressed on whether he had any concerns about the pick.

Sen. Kevin Cramer appeared skeptical of the pick, noting to reporters, “There’s a number of issues” with Gaetz’s nomination related to the investigations into allegations against him.

“I mean, to be honest, I was thinking about the FBI background check, it’s pretty intense for attorney general,” the North Dakota Republican added.

Cramer also noted that he is “not really” a fan of recess appointments. “I think you, if you go into a secretary position without the advice and consent of the Senate, you’re going weak, and I don’t think you’d want to do that,” he said.

Sen. Thom Tillis, a member of the Judiciary Committee, told CNN that “there’s obviously been a lot of disagreements between members of the Senate and Mr. Gaetz,” referring to the Florida Republican’s role in ousting former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

“It’s just a matter of how he works in relationships to actually – you got to have the credentials – but then you got to have the relationships,” the North Carolina Republican said, noting that he’ll give Gaetz an “honest look.”

Texas GOP Sen. John Cornyn, a senior member of the Judiciary Committee, said, “We’ll do our job as the Senate, do our advise-and-consent function. So, we’ll take that one day at a time.”

Asked about Gaetz being investigated by House Ethics for sexual misconduct, Cornyn told CNN: “I’m sure that will come up” in the hearings.

Another Cabinet pick and Florida Republican argued that Trump is “entitled” to fill his administration.

“I like Matt a lot, I know him very well,” said Sen. Marco Rubio, whom Trump officially announced Wednesday as his pick for secretary of state. “I am confident that if the Senate confirms him, he would do a good job.”

“Again, presidents are entitled to have the people that they want in these key positions to carry out the mandate that has been considered.”

This story has been updated with additional details.

CNN’s Jamie Gangel, Alayna Treene, Manu Raju, Morgan Rimmer, Ted Barrett, Sarah Ferris and Danya Gainor contributed to this report.

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