Among US President-elect Donald Trump's totally unexpected cabinet choices, none has been greeted with more shock and bafflement – from Republicans as well as Democrats – than the announcement of right-wing firebrand Matt Gaetz’s nomination on Wednesday to head the Justice Department.
Gaetz, a 42-year-old veteran with scant legal credentials, has been tapped to lead the very same law enforcement agency that was slated to issue a report about his alleged ties to sex trafficking – on Friday.
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The Florida congressman has been a vocal critic of continuing American aid to Ukraine and has voted against several spending bills for Kyiv. Now we may have a clue as to why the surprise pick was announced so soon in the transition process.
The conservative, who has been one of Trump’s staunchest allies on Capitol Hill, is under investigation by the House Ethics Committee for allegations involving human trafficking and sexual relations with a minor.
The shocking timing of Gaetz’s nomination just days before the Justice Department planned on releasing the report has made some question whether the president-elect was hoping to shield the nominee from further investigation.
Accused of Sex Trafficking
The Justice Department dropped its investigation of Gaetz for sex trafficking of an underage girl last year without bringing any charges.
His friend, former tax collector Joel Greenberg, was sentenced in 2022 to a prison term of 11 years after admitting to sex trafficking a minor and other charges.
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The House Ethics Committee has been conducting its own long-running probe into Gaetz, looking at allegations of sexual misconduct, misuse of campaign funds, and illicit drug use.
Gaetz, who denies all wrongdoing, abruptly resigned from Congress on Wednesday, reportedly just days before the Ethics Committee was set to release its report into his activities.
Dick Durbin, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, called Thursday for the report to be preserved and shared with his panel, which would conduct Gaetz's confirmation hearing.
"The sequence and timing of Mr Gaetz's resignation from the House raises serious questions about the contents of the House Ethics Committee report,” Durbin said. “We cannot allow this valuable information from a bipartisan investigation to be hidden from the American people.”
Announcing Gaetz's nomination on Wednesday, Trump said, “Few issues in America are more important than ending the partisan Weaponization of our Justice System.
“Matt will end Weaponized Government,” he said, “and restore Americans' badly shattered Faith and Confidence in the Justice Department.”
Trump, after leaving the White House, was charged by Special Counsel Jack Smith with conspiring to overturn the results of the 2020 election and mishandling classified documents.
Both of the federal cases are now being wound down under a Justice Department policy of not prosecuting a sitting president.
Trump has called for retribution against his political foes and Democrats fear that an attorney general Gaetz would eagerly weaponize the Justice Department to carry out “show trial” prosecutions.
‘God-tier Level Trolling’
“I don't think it's a serious nomination,” said Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska. “This one was not on my bingo card.”
Another moderate Republican senator, Susan Collins of Maine, told reporters she was “shocked” by the choice of Gaetz and “there will be a lot of questions raised” at his Senate confirmation hearing.
Democratic Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania called the selection of Gaetz “God-tier level trolling” by the president-elect and said there was no chance he could muster the 51 votes needed to be confirmed by the Senate.
As the head of the US Justice Department, the attorney general has broad authority over legal matters ranging from civil rights to corporate law, while also overseeing the FBI and other investigative agencies.
John Bolton, Trump's now-estranged former national security advisor, denounced the pick in interviews with NBC and CNN as the worst cabinet appointment in American history.
It was rivaled only by Trump's bombshell nomination of former Democratic lawmaker Tulsi Gabbard to be director of national intelligence, Bolton said.
A no-holds-barred Trump loyalist, Gaetz is a polarizing and reportedly widely disliked figure in the halls of Congress -- even in his own Republican Party.
He has a law degree from William & Mary but worked only briefly as an attorney before being elected to the House of Representatives in 2016.
As a lawmaker, Gaetz has reveled in the role of right-wing provocateur, backing Trump's false claims he won the 2020 election, downplaying the violence of the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol by Trump supporters, and leading the ouster of fellow Republican Kevin McCarthy as House Speaker last year.
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