Trump Announces Florida’s Matt Gaetz as Attorney General Nominee
President-elect Donald Trump announced that Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) would be his nominee to serve as the next attorney general on Truth Social Wednesday.
“It is my Great Honor to announce that Congressman Matt Gaetz, of Florida, is hereby nominated to be The Attorney General of the United States. Matt is a deeply gifted and tenacious attorney, trained at the William & Mary College of Law, who has distinguished himself in Congress through his focus on achieving desperately needed reform at the Department of Justice,” wrote Trump.
He continued:
Few issues in America are more important than ending the partisan Weaponization of our Justice System. Matt will end Weaponized Government, protect our Borders, dismantle Criminal Organizations and restore Americans’ badly-shattered Faith and Confidence in the Justice Department. On the House Judiciary Committee, which performs oversight of DOJ, Matt played a key role in defeating the Russia, Russia, Russia Hoax, and exposing alarming and systemic Government Corruption and Weaponization. He is a Champion for the Constitution and the Rule of Law. 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. We must have Honesty, Integrity, and Transparency at DOJ. Under Matt’s leadership, all Americans will be proud of the Department of Justice once again.
Gaetz, a longtime Trump loyalist, is currently under investigation by the House Committee on Ethics. Beginning in April 2021, the committee launched an inquiry ” into allegations that Representative Matt Gaetz may have engaged in sexual misconduct and/or illicit drug use, shared inappropriate images or videos on the House floor, misused state identification records, converted campaign funds to personal use, and/or accepted a bribe, improper gratuity, or impermissible gift, in violation of House Rules, laws, or other standards of conduct.”
Earlier this year, the committee announced that it was still “reviewing allegations pursuant to Committee Rules 14(a)(3) and 18(a) that Representative Gaetz may have: engaged in sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, accepted improper gifts, dispensed special privileges and favors to individuals with whom he had a personal relationship, and sought to obstruct government investigations of his conduct,” but was no longer looking into whether “he may have shared inappropriate images or videos on the House floor, misused state identification records, converted campaign funds to personal use, and/or accepted a bribe or improper gratuity.”
Gaetz said in September that he would “no longer voluntarily participate” in the committee’s investigation into him, while arguing that it was “political payback exercise.”
“The lawful, consensual sexual activities of adults are not the business of Congress,” said Gaetz at the time.
Gaetz also led the effort to remove then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) in October of 2023, a move which earned him the scorn of many of his Republican colleagues on Capitol Hill.
