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“President-elect Donald Trump chose Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida to serve as his attorney general… Gaetz resigned from his House seat Wednesday evening… He irked fellow GOP members in early 2023 when he filed the resolution that successfully ousted former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. McCarthy then helped fund a primary challenge to Gaetz that included commercials alleging that he paid for sex with a 17-year-old, an allegation that had been under investigation by the House Ethics Committee.” AP News
“Trump on Wednesday chose Tulsi Gabbard, a former Democratic congresswoman and an outspoken critic of the Biden administration's foreign policy, to become his director of national intelligence.” Reuters
“Trump moved to build out his national security team Tuesday, announcing he is nominating Fox News host and Army veteran Pete Hegseth to serve as his defense secretary and former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe to lead the Central Intelligence Agency.” AP News
Both sides are critical of Gaetz’s selection:
“[Gaetz] has exhibited routine poor judgment and a willingness to throw the country into chaos. He dethroned Kevin McCarthy as speaker of the House last year, plunging the GOP conference into prolonged anarchy. His baggage could fill Justice Department headquarters: He remains under investigation by the House Ethics Committee for allegations of sexual misconduct, illegal drug use and accepting improper gifts…
“Federal prosecutors investigated him for sex trafficking, in a case that revolved around allegations that he paid for sex and had a sexual relationship with a minor; they declined to file charges because they had concerns that two witnesses’ credibility issues would make it hard to prove their case to a jury. Mr. Gaetz categorically denied wrongdoing.”
Editorial Board, Washington Post
“The Justice Department has huge problems that have to be addressed. Much of what has to be done will require legislation, which means there would have to be some Democratic buy-in. Trump needs a strong, experienced hand who is widely respected for his or her legal acumen and bureaucratic know-how — specifically in the Justice Department, which is certain to chew up and spit out an outsider who doesn’t know how the place works and how veteran adversaries can sabotage a novice. It’s not a job for Matt Gaetz.”
Andrew C. McCarthy, National Review
“In my view, the ideal scenario would be that Gaetz not be confirmed. Then Trump could nominate someone more effective as Attorney General, and we would be rid of Gaetz in the House. I suspect that, after the discreditable role he played a year ago when the Republicans were trying to elect a Speaker, most of his colleagues would be glad to see him gone.”
John Hinderaker, Power Line Blog
Other opinions below.
“[Gaetz] has already been trying to identify all members of the DOJ involved with [Jack] Smith’s prosecution so they can be interrogated and punished. He would, as attorney general, almost certainly try to fire many of the agency’s 115,000 employees… so he can replace them with staunch partisans. Trump’s allies have already begun promoting the idea of mass termination of career staff at DOJ…
“Trump has also proposed charging New York prosecutors who brought charges against him under state law, along with judges, police officers, members of Congress, election workers, journalists—in short, everyone who stymied his 2020 power-grab or sought accountability afterward… Gaetz could create a living hell for everyone against whom Trump holds a grudge, subjecting them to arrest and pre-trial detention, even if the bogus charges later fizzle out in the court.”
Mark Joseph Stern, Slate
“Hegseth fought in Afghanistan and Iraq, but his rank—a major in the Army National Guard—wasn’t exactly a leadership slot… When it comes to a defense secretary’s main jobs—forming budgets, assessing weapons systems, managing interservice rivalries, engaging in interagency policymaking, conducting diplomacy with foreign counterparts, and so forth—Hegseth has no apparent qualifications.”
Fred Kaplan, Slate
“While Gabbard paints herself as an anti-interventionist, she has acted primarily as an advocate for a slate of authoritarians. In 2019, she defended Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and voiced support for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Egypt’s Abdel Fattah al-Sisi…
“After Russia invaded Ukraine, Gabbard argued that it wasn’t worth U.S. intervention because Ukraine ‘isn’t actually a democracy,’ and claimed there were U.S.-backed biolabs in the country—a Russian conspiracy that got her publicly criticized for acting like a foreign asset.”
Edith Olmsted, New Republic
“Gaetz is indeed an attorney, technically. After graduating from the respectably ranked William & Mary Law School in 2007, he was admitted to the Florida Bar the following year and worked as a junior associate for a local law office now called AnchorsGordon. That same year, he was arrested on charges of driving under the influence… All in all, Gaetz has spent a grand total of two years practicing law, during which he didn’t handle criminal cases, let alone prosecute one…
“Perhaps Trump just wants Gaetz as the Justice Department’s top dog, but just as likely are the odds that he is intentionally making the Florida firebrand his fall guy. As a sacrificial lamb, Gaetz’s nomination may be very well intended to fail to give the centrist wing of the party cover when political opponents try to accuse them of rubber-stamping all of Trump’s appointments.”
Tiana Lowe Doescher, Washington Examiner
“It’s rather churlish to describe Hegseth as merely ‘a guy on TV,’ as so many commentators have. He went to Princeton and Harvard. He served in Iraq and Afghanistan, winning two bronze stars in the process. He has experience in private enterprise. He’s been a tireless advocate for veterans — and, better still, he’s been one of those tireless advocates for veterans whom veterans actually like…
“Yes, Hegseth is young. But so what? At 44, he’s just three years younger than Barack Obama was when Obama was elected president…
“Moreover, there may actually be a benefit to his youth. The current secretary of defense, Lloyd Austin, is 71. Trump’s first-term pick, Jim Mattis, was 67 when he took the job. Hegseth is thus a lot closer in age to the average deployed American than either of those men — which, given the apparent disconnect between the rank-and-file and the top brass, and the arrival of the worst recruiting crisis ‘since the creation of the all-volunteer force,’ might not be a bad thing.”
Charles C. W. Cooke, National Review
