Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., is seen outside the U.S. Capitol after the last votes before the August recess on Thursday, July 25, 2024.
Tom Williams | CQ-Roll Call, Inc. | Getty Images
President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday said he will nominate Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida to serve as U.S. attorney general.
Trump wrote on Truth Social that Gaetz “has distinguished himself in Congress through his focus on achieving desperately needed reform at the Department of Justice.”
Gaetz replied on X, “It will be an honor to serve as President Trump’s Attorney General!”
The selection is the clearest example yet of how Trump, having sworn off many of his former staffers as “RINOs” or enemies of him and his MAGA agenda, is making loyalty a key qualification for his second administration.
If he is confirmed by the Senate, Gaetz will succeed Attorney General Merrick Garland, who led the Justice Department as it carried out a sex-trafficking investigation into the congressman.
The DOJ ultimately declined to charge Gaetz.
Gaetz remains the subject of an ongoing House Ethics Committee investigation into whether he engaged in sexual misconduct or illicit drug use.
Gaetz, who has denied any wrongdoing, said in September that he would no longer voluntarily participate in that panel’s probe.
The 42-year-old lawmaker, who has carved out a reputation as a staunch and vocal Trump loyalist, has aggressively criticized the DOJ investigation and prosecution of Trump by special counsel Jack Smith.
In October 2023, Gaetz filed the original motion to oust then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, his fellow Republican. A band of eight Republicans led by Gaetz would ultimately join with all House Democrats in removing McCarthy as speaker, plunging the GOP conference into chaos.
Gaetz was traveling with Trump, billionaire Elon Musk and others Wednesday during the president-elect’s first trip to Washington, D.C., since defeating Vice President Kamala Harris, NBC News reported.
Trump’s selection of Gaetz came as a major surprise even to his Republican colleagues on Capitol Hill.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, whose projected majority had already been slimmed after Trump tapped GOP Reps. Elise Stefanik of New York and Florida’s Mike Waltz to join his incoming administration, said Tuesday, “I don’t expect that we will have more members leaving.”
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, told Punchbowl News she was “shocked” by the pick.
“This is why the Senate’s advise and consent process is so important. I’m sure that there will be many, many questions raised at Mr. Gaetz’s hearing,” she told the news outlet.
When asked by a HuffPost reporter whether Gaetz has the character to be attorney general, Rep. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, replied, “Are you s——- me?”