Trump escalates test of strength over Gaetz pick

Analysis by Stephen Collinson, CNN

(CNN) — Donald Trump is creating a show of force that will help define his new term as he tries to leverage Matt Gaetz into the attorney general’s office.

The president-elect has been calling senators to press them to confirm his pick early next year, CNN reported Monday — even as counter pressure grows from GOP senators who want to see a House Ethics Committee report into Gaetz’s past conduct, including over an alleged sexual liaison with a minor that he has denied.

The controversy took another twist when a lawyer for two women who appeared before the committee said they testified that they were paid for “sexual favors” by the Florida Republican. The attorney, Joel Leppard, also told CNN’s Erin Burnett that one of the women told the committee that she witnessed Gaetz having sex with her then-underage friend in 2017. Gaetz denies any wrongdoing and the Justice Department did not press charges after its own investigation.

The Ethics Committee report has quickly become the first big crisis of the nascent second Trump administration. A small handful of Republican senators would be needed to defect in order to block Gaetz’s nomination when the party controls the Senate majority next year.

House Speaker Mike Johnson is insisting ahead of a scheduled meeting of the Ethics Committee on Wednesday that the report should not be released since Gaetz, following his resignation last week, is no longer a member of Congress.

The escalating drama is posing a critical question: How far will Trump go in trying to force Republican senators to back his choice — even though some have deep reservations about Gaetz’s character and qualifications for the job?

North Dakota Sen. Kevin Cramer, who wants to see the report released, addressed that exact issue on Monday and questioned the wisdom of the president-elect investing massive political capital in getting Gaetz confirmed.

“You have to, you know, determine whether or not the cost of getting them across the finish line is worth it, much less the possibility that you won’t get them across the finish line,” Cramer told CNN’s Manu Raju, while also raising concerns about Republicans cooperating with a recess appointment for Gaetz, as Trump demanded, if he cannot get enough votes.

GOP senators could pay a price for a prolonged confirmation fight

If Trump sticks with his pick, Republican senators feeling the MAGA movement’s pressure could be forced to defend Gaetz for weeks. That could land them in a tricky spot. Despite the threat that senators could face primaries if they break with the president-elect, votes for a compromised nominee could also haunt those seeking reelection in statewide races in 2026.

Cramer is raising logical political issues. Yet Trump is such a unique figure that the normal calculations may not apply.

Historically, a conventional president might see the uproar surrounding his pick, assess the shifting political sands and quietly withdraw support — reasoning that there’s little point in damaging their precious authority before their term even starts. Such political capital might be better spent on aggressively implementing an agenda in the first 100 days than on a pick who could already be doomed. In Trump’s case, sacrificing Gaetz could also ease the way for other provocative Cabinet picks, including Fox News anchor Pete Hegseth, whom Trump wants to serve as defense secretary, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the vaccine skeptic he wants to run the Health and Human Services Department. Senators might be just about ready to defy the president-elect on one selection, but a wholesale rejection of his choices would be political folly for them.

But Trump is also making this about far more than Gaetz, creating a test of power that reflects his own self-confidence, the balance of power in the new Congress and his belief that the GOP Senate should be at his service and not be a moderating force.

The president-elect’s unorthodox pick of the Florida Republican – and the muscle that he’s already put into his candidacy – means that Trump may soon approach the point where it will cost him more political capital to fold on Gaetz than to keep trying to get him installed – whatever it takes.

Ever since Trump shocked Capitol Hill and delighted his most committed supporters by selecting an ultra loyalist who has said the FBI should be abolished if it won’t “come to heel,” it’s been clear that this pick is different. The president-elect could have chosen just about anyone in Washington, and they would have been less controversial than Gaetz.

But the Florida Republican shares the president-elect’s belief that the Justice Department has victimized Trump and needs to be purged.

What the Gaetz showdown says about the new Washington

Trump also appears to be trying to establish an even more significant precedent. He is putting his credibility on the line in direct opposition to GOP senators’ commitment to perform their constitutional duty of “advise and consent” over Cabinet selections.

A president is generally given considerable deference over such picks. But it’s also normal for some presidential nominees to fall short. Former President Bill Clinton, for instance, considered two women for attorney general, Zoë Baird and Kimba Wood, who had to withdraw over allegations they had employed undocumented migrants as nannies.

Trump’s choices, however, mean this particular showdown will go a long way to shaping the political dynamics in Washington in the coming years, while establishing a fresh test for Republicans over whether they are willing to defy the new president, who takes names when he is thwarted.

If the president-elect can force Gaetz on the Justice Department despite the significant Senate concern, it will be fair to question whether the new GOP majority will oppose him on anything. And Trump, who has a history of forcing public officials to carry out his will, will increase Gaetz’s debt to him as he potentially sets about fulfilling Trump’s goals to seek retribution against his political foes.

Senators want to see Ethics report

Cramer’s comments go further than other Republicans on the Gaetz confirmation controversy. But there are signs that other GOP senators at least want more details about the allegations. Maine Sen. Susan Collins told CNN’s Raju that it would be “helpful” to see the House Ethics report.

And Texas Sen. John Cornyn insisted the Senate would fulfill its constitutional responsibility. “Whether we get the ethics report or not, the facts are going to come out one way or the other,” Cornyn said. “I would think it would be in everybody’s best interest, including the president’s, not to be surprised by some information that might come out during the confirmation hearing and the background check.”

Democrats argue that there is plenty of precedent for the release of an Ethics Committee report after a member has resigned, even though Johnson insists protocol requires such investigations to end once a lawmaker has left the chamber.

The top Democrat on the House committee — Rep. Susan Wild of Pennsylvania, who won’t be returning to Congress next year after losing her seat — told CNN that she believed that if the full committee did meet, “There will be a unanimous democratic consensus that the report should be released.”

But Johnson, who has previously said the report is not complete and insisted he hasn’t spoken to Trump about it despite spending significant time with him, dug in on Monday night, telling CNN’s Raju that this is a “different era” and “now we live in the age of the 24-hour news cycle, now we live in the age of social media, the politics and the dynamics are very different.”

CNN’s Kristen Holmes reported on Monday that the president-elect had been calling some senators directly to ask them to support Gaetz. Two sources familiar with the outreach didn’t say who the president-elect has spoken to but stressed his determination to get Gaetz in place at the Justice Department. The calls were first reported by Axios.

Before unveiling a slate of highly provocative picks, including Kennedy, Hegseth and his selection for Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, Trump had called on Republicans to push ahead with recess appointments if his picks for the Cabinet stalled. The president-elect is seeking to get a fast start to his second term and appears to be hoping to bypass the normal delays in assembling his team. It’s not unusual for presidents to use such a device for contested nominees. But it would be close to unprecedented for the Senate, which will be controlled by his party, to try to use such a tactic early in the confirmation process for multiple potential Cabinet officers, especially since Democrats could block efforts to recess.

And Cramer hinted that if Gaetz could not get confirmed with Republican votes, his position would be compromised. “I just think it’d be unwise to do that if he can’t get the votes of the majority party,” the North Dakota Republican said.

Trump does not agree. And armed with what he considers to be a large mandate and determined to avoid the kind of constraints that frustrated him during his first term, the president-elect is showing no sign of backing down.

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