CNN
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President-elect Donald Trump has selected Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz of Florida to be attorney general.
“There are few issues more important than ending the partisan weaponization of the justice system in America,” President Trump wrote in a post on his platform, Truth Social, on Wednesday. “Matt will end weaponized government, secure our borders, dismantle criminal organizations, and restore Americans’ badly shattered faith and trust in the Department of Justice.”
Gaetz, a Trump supporter and conservative representative from Florida, said in an X post shortly after the announcement that he was “honored to serve” in the role. Once he is formally nominated by President Trump, he will need to be confirmed by the Senate.
This choice may result in a provocative verification process. If confirmed, Gaetz will take over the nation’s top law enforcement agency, which has for years pursued a sex crimes investigation against the congressman. The Justice Department ultimately decided last year not to file criminal charges against him.
The attorney general’s role is critical to Trump’s vision for a second term and will help enforce the president-elect’s policies on immigration, reproductive health and political retaliation.
President Trump has said he wants to gut the judicial system as part of an effort to overturn legal regulations and traditional protections against political interference, CNN reported.
Mr. Gaetz has long accused the Justice Department under President Joe Biden of being weaponized against conservatives, including Mr. Trump, and has advocated abolishing the department and the FBI without major reforms. .
Gaetz, a member of the Select Subcommittee on Federal Weaponization, accused the FBI of going “far beyond” what the law allows in its surveillance and called for limits on its powers.
“Either we get this government back on our side, or the FBI, the CDC, the ATF, the DOJ, and if they don’t cooperate, we abolish them all and abolish them,” Gaetz said at the Conservative Political Conference. mentioned in. 2023 Action Conference.
Gaetz also criticized rank-and-file officials at the Justice Department.
“People who grew up in a system that has been the victim of political capture cannot have the same careers,” he said in an interview this summer, adding that he would welcome outsiders to the Justice Department, including from state attorney general’s offices. He added that he should. Department.
The lawmaker remains under investigation by the House Ethics Committee for sexual misconduct, and the bipartisan panel said in a rare statement in June that some of the allegations against Gates “deserve continued review.” Ta.
The investigation alleges that Gaetz “engaged in sexual misconduct and illegal drug use, accepted inappropriate gifts, granted special privileges or favors to individuals with whom he had a personal relationship, and The commission said the suspect may have “attempted to obstruct a government investigation into his conduct.” he said at the time.
Gates has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, including having sex with or paying for sex with minors.
House Ethics Committee Chairman Michael Guest said the ethics investigation into Gates would end once he resigns as attorney general, because the committee only has jurisdiction when a lawmaker is a member. .
“If he is appointed, he would have to resign from his position in the House of Commons because at that point the ethics investigation would be discontinued. Like other members, we only have an ethics committee. As long as they have jurisdiction and people are appointed, they are legislators,” Guest, a Mississippi Republican, told CNN.
Mr. Guest declined to comment on the status of the investigation into Mr. Gaetz, but said he was surprised to learn that President Trump had selected him for the role.
“Like most members, I was surprised. His name was not someone I had heard of before. But like any cabinet-level selection, the confirmation process “There is a confirmation process, so if any member of the Senate has any questions about his or any other minister’s ability to do his job, those questions will be resolved within the confirmation process,” he said. .
Guest said he was surprised by the selection, but said he had no doubts about Trump.
“You know, I’m not going to question the president’s choices, whether it’s attorney general or any other cabinet-level position,” he added.
President Trump’s announcement came as House Republicans were meeting behind closed doors to elect leadership.
Members of Congress left the meeting to learn of the selection and expressed surprise.
“I didn’t really get any good comments,” said Republican Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska.
“I don’t know anything about that,” Oklahoma Rep. Tom Cole, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, told reporters.
Meanwhile, Senate Republican leaders expressed uncertainty about whether they would support the Florida senator.
“Mr. Gaetz and I have fought between the House and the Senate on certain issues. Does that happen? I haven’t looked up his full body of work here and his qualifications, but honestly Let’s take a look. … There’s clearly a lot of disagreement between the senator and Mr. Gaetz,” Sen. Thom Tillis, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, told CNN, and former House member Kevin McCarthy. He cited Gaetz’s role in the chairman’s ouster.
“It’s really about how he works in relationships. He has to qualify, but then he has to build relationships as well,” the North Carolina Republican said.
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said in response to the developments, “We are going to do our job as a Senate and perform our advisory and consent function.” . So we’ll take it one day at a time. ”
Asked about Gates being investigated by the House Ethics Committee for sexual misconduct, Cornyn told CNN, “I’m sure that will come up” in the hearing.
This story has been interrupted and will be updated.
