President Donald Trump announced his intention to nominate Matt Gaetz, a far-right congressman from Florida known for stirring up tensions within the House Republican conference, to be attorney general.
Gaetz, a longtime Trump supporter, gained attention last year for his successful effort to oust Republican Kevin McCarthy as speaker of the House. Mr. Gaetz and seven other House Republicans joined Democrats in voting to remove Mr. McCarthy last October, beginning a weeks-long scramble to find a new speaker.
Mr. McCarthy has claimed personal responsibility for Mr. Gaetz’s ouster and even provided funding for an unsuccessful primary challenge against his former colleague. McCarthy suggested that Gates may have pushed for his dismissal because of an ethics committee investigation into allegations that he paid and had sex with underage girls.
But that investigation effectively ended Wednesday night after Gaetz resigned from Congress following President Trump’s nomination.
In February 2023, the Justice Department rejected sex trafficking charges against Gates, who has denied any wrongdoing since the allegations first came to light.
Even before Mr. McCarthy was fired, Mr. Gaetz had built a reputation as a right-wing firebrand willing to take on Democrats and Republicans.
“Florida Man. Built for battle,” Gates’ profile on X (formerly Twitter) reads.
Gaetz followed his father into politics more than 20 years ago. After serving in the Florida State Legislature, Gaetz was elected to represent Ruby Red in the Florida Panhandle in 2016.
Gates’ critics say he, like Trump, to whom he is fiercely loyal, is more interested in sparring with political opponents than in the dry business of governing. At the Capitol, Democrats have repeatedly disrupted House proceedings, including once breaking into a secure facility where Democrats were holding deposition hearings.
In 2018, he was accused of inviting a Holocaust denier to President Trump’s State of the Union address. A year later, he hired a speechwriter who was fired by President Trump after speaking at a conference filled with white supremacists.
Months after the Jan. 6 storming of the Capitol, Gaetz embarked on an “America First” tour with far-right Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, criticizing the former president’s false claims of fraud in the 2020 election. was amplified.
Following worse-than-expected results for House Republicans in the 2022 midterm elections, Gaetz used his majority in the chamber to coax a promise from McCarthy to change the rules, but McCarthy announced in January 2023 that He had to survive 15 votes before becoming chairman. Nine months later, Gaetz used these rule changes to oust McCarthy from the chairman’s chair.
Most recently, Gaetz served as an advisor to former President Trump as he successfully sought a second term. According to ABC News, Gaetz raised questions about Trump’s potential vulnerabilities, including his multiple criminal indictments and changing attitudes on abortion access, and suggested Trump’s plans for Kamala’s election in September. He said he helped prepare for the debate with Harris.
As attorney general, Gaetz will have extensive powers to prosecute Trump’s political opponents, as the president-elect has promised. Gaetz also said Trump may seek to purge a number of longtime employees from the Justice Department after he spread baseless claims that the federal government was “armed” against him. There is also.
But Gates would need Senate confirmation to take on the role, where he could face a snub. While Senate Republicans have a 53-seat majority and Gates’ approval is still possible, some early red flags emerged shortly after Trump’s announcement.
Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins told reporters at the Capitol that she was “shocked” by the news.
“It shows why the[Senate confirmation]advice and consent process is so important,” Collins said, according to Politico. “And I’m sure his hearing will raise a lot of questions.”
