Amidst an array of announcements about who will serve in President Donald J. Trump’s cabinet, Trump HQ has announced its intentions to nominate Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) for United States 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 Truth Social. “Matt will end Weaponized Government, protect our Borders, dismantle Criminal Organizations and restore Americans’ badly-shattered Faith and Confidence in the Justice Department.”
Gaetz has offered his resignation from Congress, according to House Speaker Mike Johnson.
“It will be an honor to serve as President Trump’s Attorney General!” Gaetz posted on X, shortly after Trump’s announcement.
Meanwhile, Gaetz’s fellow members of Congress did not respond well to the news. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) told Punchbowl News she was “shocked at the nomination.”
“This is why the Senate’s advise and consent process is so important,” Collins said. “I’m sure that there will be many, many questions raised at Mr. Gaetz’s hearing.”
One of Collins’ colleagues, Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Wednesday that Gaetz’s nomination poses “a deadly serious challenge to the Senate’s constitutional advice and consent role.”
“As a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, I’ll engage in the confirmation process, where we consider the qualifications, the ethics and character and the policy views of nominees.” He went on to say, “My hope is that my colleagues in the Republican caucus will urge the president to reconsider.”
Gaetz will have to receive confirmation from the Senate before taking the cabinet position; some senators have already expressed skepticism at Gaetz’s ability to do so.
While expressing neither approval nor dissatisfaction with Trump’s pick, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) emphasized that “Confirmation hearings will be important. [Gaetz] will have some tough questions to answer.”
Sen. Thom Thillis offered a similarly bleak outlook on Gaetz’s chances of surviving the nomination process. “I’m all about counting votes,” Thillis said. “And I would think that he’s probably got some work cut out for him. We’re not going to get a single Democrat.”
Among House members, reactions have been just as tense. Emily Brooks, a reporter for The Hill, posted on X Wednesday about how a “source in [the] room where House Republicans are waiting to start leadership elections tells me there were AUDIBLE GASP when Rep. MATT GAETZ was announced as President-elect Trump’s pick for Attorney General.”
Nebraska Congressman Don Bacon (R-NE) told Punchbowl‘s Melanie Zanona, “I’ve got no good comment.”
HuffPost reporter Jonathan Nicholson reported that, upon being asked whether Gaetz had the character for the role, Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho) remarked, “Are you s****in’ me?”
In addition to being one of Trump’s most loyal defenders in the House, Gaetz has been vocal in his support for National Security Agency (NSA) whistleblower Edward Snowden. On September 3, 2020, Gaetz posted to X (then Twitter), “Pardon @Snowden.”
The following day, Gaetz said on his podcast, “As of today, the case has never been stronger that Edward Snowden deserves a pardon from President Trump. I would support a pardon for Edward Snowden. If it were not for Snowden, we might not know today that our own government was engaged in an activity that now a federal appellate court has deemed illegal.”
