Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) was not “a serious candidate” for U.S. attorney general, comparing his nomination to the elevation of disgraced former Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.).
“This one was not on my bingo card,” Murkowski told reporters on Wednesday. “I don’t think this is a serious nomination for attorney general. We need to have a serious attorney general.”
President-elect Donald Trump made the shocking announcement on Wednesday that he wants Gaetz, a longtime ally, to lead the Justice Department, calling him a “deeply gifted and tenacious attorney.” If he is confirmed, Gaetz will lead the department that once investigated him on sex trafficking allegations.
Gaetz resigned from Congress soon after the announcement, ending a House Ethics Committee investigation into accusations of sexual misconduct, drug use and other improprieties.
Murkowski alluded to those accusations in comments to reporters on Wednesday.
“If I wanted to make a joke, maybe I would say now I’m waiting for George Santos to be named,” the senator told The New York Times. Santos was expelled from Congress last year after investigators alleged he spent thousands of dollars in campaign funds on things like Botox and a website for sex workers.
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She went on to say Trump had the right to name whomever he wanted to serve in his Cabinet. But the Senate, Murkoswki added, had a duty to “determine whether these individuals have what it takes in these departments, and it is up to us to confirm them.”
“That’s why I think it is really important that we don’t roll over on that role of advise and consent and we move through the nomination process,” she told the Times. “If we get good candidates, we will be able to move through the nominations process, hopefully, really readily and that’ll be good for the president, good for him to get his team.”
“But when you put forward picks that are really going to generate controversy, and not just controversy on one side of the aisle, it is going to take longer.”
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Murkowski’s office did not immediately respond to a question about the senator’s plans regarding a confirmation vote.
Murkowski, a moderate Republican, is a key member of the party’s coalition alongside fellow moderate Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine). The pair hold outsize influence over the GOP’s plans in the chamber and have voted with Democrats in the past, although the party’s margin — Republicans will hold 52 or 53 seats ― will likely give the incoming Senate majority leader, John Thune (R-S.D.), a slim buffer.
Trump has urged Thune and Republicans in the chamber to confirm his nominations with haste. The president-elect has also demanded he be allowed to make “recess appointments” that would take effect without Senate confirmation.
“One thing is clear: We must act quickly and decisively to get the president’s cabinet and other nominees in place as soon as possible to start delivering on the mandate we’ve been sent to execute, and all options are on the table to make that happen, including recess appointments,” Thune tweeted on X after Trump’s demand.