Donald Trump picks Matt Gaetz, a staunch ally, for Attorney General

Matt Gaetz knows of at least five potential assassination attempts on Trump. Image via X.

President-elect Donald Trump is nominating U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, a stalwart Trump ally, as Attorney General.

Trump announced the move on his social media platform, Truth Social. He described Gaetz as “a deeply gifted and tenacious attorney … who has distinguished himself in Congress through his focus on achieving desperately needed reform at the Department of Justice.”

“Few issues in America are more important than ending the partisan Weaponization of our Justice System,” Trump wrote Wednesday. “Matt will root out the systemic corruption at DOJ, and return the Department to its true mission of fighting Crime, and upholding our Democracy and Constitution.”

Gaetz, 42, shared a screenshot of Trump’s post four minutes later, writing “It will be a great honor to serve as President Trump’s Attorney General!” NBC News reported Gaetz was traveling Wednesday with Trump and billionaire Elon Musk on the President-elect’s first trip back to Washington, D.C., since he won the General Election.

He resigned from Congress in anticipation of taking the new job less than four hours later.

If he is confirmed by the Senate, Gaetz would replace Merrick Garland, who as Attorney General oversaw the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) as it investigated sex trafficking allegations against the lawmaker. The agency ended the probe in February 2023 and declined to charge Gaetz with any crimes.

A House Ethics Committee inquiry was still underway Wednesday into whether Gaetz engaged in sexual misconduct or illegal drug use, and whether he granted special favors to romantic interests. Republican U.S. Rep. Michael Guest, who chairs the House Ethics Committee, told Fox News the panel’s investigation would end the second Gaetz was no longer a member of the chamber because “then Ethics has no jurisdiction.”

Gaetz has denied any wrongdoing and criticized the committee for continuing its investigation.

A self-described “conservative firebrand,” Gaetz has consistently defended Trump on numerous fronts. Among other things, he echoed the former and soon-to-be President’s claim that the 2020 Presidential Election was stolen, called Democratic U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff a “malicious Captain Kangaroo” for his handling of an impeachment inquiry into Trump’s pressuring of Ukraine to investigate President Joe Biden and his son ahead of the 2020 election, and claimed without evidence that it was antifa activists — not Trump supporters — who acted violently during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

As DOJ Special Counsel Jack Smith compiled evidence worked to prosecute Trump in two cases — one focused on Trump’s effort to overturn the 2020 election, the other involving Trump’s mishandling of and refusal to return classified documents after leaving office — few in elected office have been as vocal as Gaetz in defending the former President.

Gaetz also proved himself a savvy and influential operator in affecting change in the House’s upper echelons, leading a successful push in October 2023 to oust then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy. The move, which marked the first time in history that a House Speaker was removed, ultimately led to the elevation of Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Johnson of Louisiana to the position.

Trump endorsed Johnson on Wednesday to continue as House Speaker.

Gaetz is likely to be more of a loyalist as Attorney General than those who held the position under Trump’s first term, when the President-elect grew increasingly incensed at former Attorneys General Jeff Sessions, who permitted an investigation into allegations that Trump and Russia colluded to interfere with the 2016 election, and Bill Barr, who contradicted Trump’s claims of rampant voter fraud in 2020.

After becoming one of the founding members of the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government last year, Gaetz called for the defunding and dissolution of federal agencies that “do not come to heel.”

“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,” he said at the Conservative Political Action Conference last year.

Gaetz stands to take over a federal agency with more than 100,000 employees and a plethora of investigative and law enforcement apparatuses, including the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration, U.S. Marshals Service, Bureau of Prisons, National Security Division, and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, among many others.

Gaetz won re-election by a landslide this month, toppling Democrat Gay Valimont with more than 66% of the vote. He won the Primary in August with 71% of the vote, demonstrating that most Republican voters in his district harbored little resentment over the McCarthy ouster.

Asked why voters should retain him for a fifth term in CD 1, Gaetz said simply, “I fight for them.”

A William & Mary College of Law graduate and the son of a former Florida Senate President who on Nov. 5 won a return trip to the state Senate, Gaetz has a long history of advocating for the region. He served in the Florida House before his 2016 election to Congress. In Washington, he helped this year to secure $240 million in the House budget for military operations in the Panhandle, along with $191 million for new Defense Department construction.

Elected to Congress the same year Trump won the presidency, Gaetz quickly forged a relationship with the Republican leader. He said in the leadup to Election Day that his ardent support would pay dividends if Trump won a second White House term.

He’s also cleaned up his public image in recent years. In August 2021, four months after the House Ethics Committee confirmed it was opening a probe into allegations Gaetz had an inappropriate sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl and paid for her to travel with him, he married Ginger Luckey and was among those rumored as a future candidate for Governor.

Speaking with The Atlantic shortly after he and Luckey eloped, Gaetz said he was taking cues from Trump on how to handle scandal.

“I have fewer on-record accusers than Joe Biden,” he said. “I have seen so much in politics: people distracted, dismayed, disoriented by bad coverage. In a way, Trump was an inspiration for me because despite whatever they were saying about him — with foreign intelligence services, with the DOJ — he had a determination to say what he was going to say and share his vision for the country.”

Trump’s plan to nominate Gaetz for Attorney General came hours after he announced that he’ll tap U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio for Secretary of State. If confirmed, Gov. Ron DeSantis would be responsible for appointing Rubio’s replacement and for setting the date of a Special Election for CD 1 voters to choose Gaetz’s replacement.

___

Jacob Ogles contributed to this report, which is developing and will be updated.