On Gaetz as potential AG
Never a dull moment with Trump, although one might wish for a few.
So, what about Gaetz? Is Trump’s decision to put him up for Attorney General the ultimate troll? Is it even meant to be serious, or some sort of complicated move that is a test of loyalty, or a way to get Gaetz out of the House, or what? I don’t even pretend to know, but I note the furor it has engendered even on the right.
Gaetz is an unconventional choice, to say the least. Most people think he won’t be confirmed in the Senate, and that’s certainly a good possibility, considering the thin GOP majority there and the presence of people like Collins and Murkowski.
Gaetz is nothing if not aggressive; he was one of the main drivers of the ouster of Speaker McCarthy, for example. McCarthy has said this about the nomination:
Asked for his response to Trump’s Cabinet picks so far, McCarthy told Bloomberg Television in an interview, “I think the choices are very good, except one.”
“Look, Gaetz won’t get confirmed,” he continued. “Everybody knows that.”
McCarthy, a loyal Trump ally while serving in the House, was asked why the former president would bother tapping Gaetz if he knew the Florida Republican couldn’t get confirmed.
“You can talk to [the] president, but it’s a good deflection from others, but it also gives …” McCarthy responded, cutting himself off. “I’ll let it stand at that.”
Pressed again for some insight into Trump’s thought process, McCarthy said, “You’d have to ask the president, but Gaetz couldn’t win in a Republican conference, so it doesn’t matter.”
And then there’s Fetterman, who called it a “God-tier kind of trolling just to trigger a meltdown.”
The DOJ had previously subjected Gaetz to a 2-years-long investigation, which was finally closed in 2023 because of witness unreliability [emphasis mine]:
The investigation stemmed from allegations that the congressman had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl, with the DOJ looking into if Gaetz violated sex trafficking laws in paying for her to travel with him, including across state lines.
The probe was part of a larger investigation into Gaetz’s ally and former Florida tax collector Joel Greenberg, who pleaded guilty in 2021 to six federal crimes, including sex trafficking of a minor, identity theft and wire fraud.
Greenberg was sentenced to 11 years in prison in December. He agreed to cooperate with the DOJ’s investigation as part of his plea agreement.
But the investigation into Gaetz hit a roadblock over concerns about the credibility of two witnesses, one of whom was Greenberg. Career attorneys reportedly recommended to the DOJ in September that the department not charge Gaetz based on those witness credibility issues.
Prosecutors were also worried that testimony from the girl with whom Gaetz allegedly had the relationship would not stand up in front of a jury.
In other words, they offered something to Greenberg if he’d implicate Gaetz, and his testimony (and the girl’s) ended up being too shaky to hold up in court. You can draw your own conclusions about Gaetz’s guilt, but I say it’s most likely they tried to frame him. I doubt there’s much love lost between Gaetz and the DOJ which, as AG, he would be in the position of running.
There’s also a House investigation:
The House Ethics Committee was investigating whether he engaged in sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, among other allegations. With Gaetz’s resignation from the lower chamber, the panel no longer has jurisdiction but could still vote to release the report.
Yes, Gaetz resigned from the House yesterday, ostensibly to start the ball rolling on DeSantis appointing his replacement so that the House majority is protected. This may or may not have been the reason.
My gut feeling is that this is certainly not a simple matter, and that both Trump and Gaetz may be playing a more complicated game. I think it presents Senate GOP members with a real dilemma, as well.
But let’s for a moment say that Gaetz is confirmed as AG. I think it would be a scorched earth policy at the DOJ, which is richly deserved for the agency’s behavior under Garland. It’s not as though the DOJ has any reputation to defend.
It will be a sh*t show to confirm him. There are other loyal Republicans who will get the job done without wasting the political capital. Trump needs to use the first few months to shove through legislation rather than fighting the drama this pick will generate. Withdraw him now and move on.
“But let’s for a moment say that Gaetz is confirmed as AG. I think it would be a scorched earth policy at the DOJ, which is richly deserved for the agency’s behavior under Garland. It’s not as though the DOJ has any reputation to defend.”
Agreed, and as you say, richly deserved. Gaetz would not have been on my list for AG, but I can live with him, and he may even end up just the person for the job. And, he’s the President-elect’s pick. Let President Trump have the AG he wants. When I note the Reps on the list who voted yea for Merrick Garland I say that they’ve barely an ethical leg to stand on regarding anyone President Trump nominates.
The DOJ (like my own State Department) needs a flame thrower taken to it, and maybe Gaetz is an enlightened choice.
Every day the corruption in DC becomes more apparent.
Glen Greenwald lays out the case why the over the top resistance to Gaetz. I suggest everyone who wonders why the opposition is so fierce so quickly watch this analysis.
Gaetz is as qualified for the position of AG as Rubio is for SoS. Conservatives should support Gaetz.
The Washington establishment, including some Republicans, are trying to set the boundaries for how much Trump will be allowed to effect real change in the way Washington works.
Greenwald also talks about the sex trafficking allegations.
Matt Gaetz Picked As Trump AG: Establishment Dems & GOP OUTRAGED
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-KX3qcbRBk
A good cop/bad cop play?
With Gaetz as the bad cop and his replacement as the good cop.
huxley:
That’s precisely what I’ve been thinking.
There’s any number of reasons that could be behind the Gaetz announcement. As an opening move in a negotiation, for example. Or to provoke the Swamp-lovers into declaring themselves (mission accomplished there). Or maybe its because it’s what Trump really wants.
But Trump is considerably more popular with the electorate than the GOP is. In 2017 the Senate GOP tanked his nominees, budgets, and legislative priorities. I think they thought Trump’s Presidency was a fluke they could ignore. It isn’t, and I don’t think the people who gave the GOP its current majorities are going to appreciate their little games this time around.
DeSantis can only fill Senatorial vacancies with an appointment. Gaetz is a Representative. Vacancies are filled by special elections. Gaetz resigned early enough that the special election can be held before the next congress gets sworn in.
I think Trump’s picks have been outstanding up to this point. And now with Gabbard and Goetz, we get two “in your face” picks. And no two groups deserve it more than the intelligence community and DOJ. Trump surely deserves to get a little personal against those entities based upon what they’ve done to him. And, incidentally it will be great for the entire country to see a swarm of IC and DOJ people get fired.
I’ve seen a theory that Gaetz is sacrificial. The Senate can confirm all Trump’s other picks, but balking at Gaetz gives them the ability to say “see, we stood up to Trump”
Personally, I think Massey was on to something.
https://www.mediaite.com/politics/suck-it-up-house-republican-says-matt-gaetz-will-be-ag-even-without-senate-confirmation/
“Recess Appointment – He’s the Attorney General…Suck it up”
Or course Massey may have just been trolling the media that was harassing him too, so who knows what the plan is.
Someone else I read noted that Trump is naming cabinet members to head departments that have screwed them over in some way in the past (example Gabbard being named Director of National Intelligence after being placed on a terrorist watch list). I think that observation has some merit and would be a great way to ensure that the new “secretary of xxx” isn’t beholden to the status quo.
Grandpagrumble: “And, incidentally it will be great for the entire country to see a swarm of IC and DOJ people get fired.”
Firing is the least of it. I’d like to see a bunch of them strung up from lampposts. Literally.
It’s deserved, and also to “encourage” the others.
The underage sex allegations against Gaetz are a lightning rod to say the least. But don’t forget that hopeless soccer dad Brett Kavanaugh was falsely portrayed as a molester and pimp. Almost as bad a predator as Ted Kennedy and Bill Clinton!
It might be like Mao’s ” Let a hundred flowers bloom” campaign. Find out who’s your enemy, a very old tactic.
I expect the Dems to oppose them all, like the Rep did – not. If can vote for Garland, then you can vote for Gaetz. Trump won, Rep idjits should remember that.
Someone wrote that Trump may be threatening the Senate to confirm Gaetz, or else Trump will ask DeSantis to fill Rubio’s chair with Gaetz.
Gaetz is hard to take seriously. He doesn’t quite seem fully adult.
This is one of the reason why Matt Gaetz should be the next AG, and why the political establishment will do anything to stop him.
He’s a fighter. Here he is in 2022 raising questions about J6.
Rep. Matt Gaetz Says January 6th Was Not an Insurrection
https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4994571/rep-matt-gaetz-january-6th-insurrection
@Dax:Trump will ask DeSantis to fill Rubio’s chair with Gaetz.
As much fun as that would be, I’m not sure the timing works out, even if DeSantis and Trump are able to work that well together.
Gaetz isn’t going away even if he doesn’t get confirmed. DeSantis has Rubio’s Senate Seat to fill and Gaetz didn’t resign from his Congressional Seat on the whim of becoming AG. He’s getting a Promotion anyway you look at it
Gaetz may be the “bad cop” to get all the US District attorneys to quit before January as well as some of the staff at DOJ. Once they are gone, someone else can come in to finish the cleanup and reorganization.
Trump can always give Gaetz a position at the White House as the reward.
I just saw this on Trump’s truth social …. the purge of the US Attorneys begins… he is not even waiting for resignations.
“I am pleased to announce that Jay Clayton, of New York, the Chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission during my first term, where he did an incredible job, is hereby nominated to be the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. ”
https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/113483513301208163
Don’t forget Clinton fired all US attorney’s in 1993. That has become the norm (or firing all the attorney’s the previous administration appointed.
Regarding sacrificial candidate / good cop – bad cop:
I wonder to what extent Matt Gaetz thinks that Matt Gaetz will be the next Attorney General — i.e., to what extent is Matt Gaetz in on the 4-D chess maneuvering?
Meanwhile, I’m certainly enjoying the other side’s outrage. Runnin’ outta popcorn . . .
Matt Gaetz — why is he so hated? Many freely cast aspersions, yet very few offer up explanations. To me, it’s very much like Trump is Hitler propaganda. A smear and a lie that’s become an article of perverted faith.
This hatred has stumped me for years. But based upon my own research (eg, SEE LINKS at Conservapedia and Wikipedia), I conclude that it is no more than animus fuelled through guilt by association.
Gaetz may be the strongest voice in support of Trump — SMEAR HIM! When young, he had a brush with a DUI and an anti-Semite through politics. SMEAR HIM! He’s also been a steadfast critic of the military-industrial complex, as well as opponent of DOJ abuse of justice and the weaponization of law. SMEAR! SMEAR!
As an accurately self-described “libertarian populist,” he’s more of a political lighting rod than Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, but not much different than (former) long-time Houston Congressman Ron Paul.
Even here, we find Abraxas in demure (above): “Gaetz is hard to take seriously. He doesn’t quite seem fully adult.”
Let me directly puncture your assessment. He has been married a few years. That’s undeniably an adult responsibility. And he’s been re-elected several times by wide margins. Thus, I conclude that most of his constituents would disagree with Abraxas that he’s not “fully adult” — a label much more fitting the too many far Leftists known as “The Squad.”
I share our host’s opinion that in the DOJ investigation of Gaetz and underage sex, it is “most likely they tried to frame him.” And unprosecuted Brandon’s moral turpitude probably worse.
A State of Florida lawmaker and former official, who is a Democrat, offers high praise for his former colleague:
“Florida Rep. Jared Moskowitz, a Democrat, said he knows Gaetz well and that he played an important role in getting him confirmed as the emergency management director in Florida in 2019 [which is among the very most important jobs in that large state].
Moskowitz says that Gaetz was “extremely loyal” and “extremely competent.”
“’Trump was not shy about what he wanted to do in this country,’ Moskowitz told CNN. “’In Matt Gaetz [President Trump] does not only get someone who is fiercely loyal, but fiercely competent. Matt Gaetz knows exactly what to do in the attorney general’s office and he will turn that into the most powerful attorney general in American history.’”
https://justthenews.com/government/congress/matt-gaetz-attorney-general-gets-unexpected-support-florida-democrat
I think aspersions resting on guilt by association are un-American. Perhaps Abraxas will correct me?
“Firing is the least of it. I’d like to see a bunch of them strung up from lampposts. Literally.” Paul Nachman
There’s something to be said for the edification elicited when heads are left on pikes until all that remains are the skulls.
Gaetz has to be aware of how unlikely Senate confirmation will be and, assuming Gaetz to be innocent, he would not have given up his House seat without sincere assurances by Trump that, if unconfirmed he will still receive an appropriate position within the Trump administration. Of course, if Trump gets his recess appointments, Gaetz will be the AG. If not, Gaetz will one way or another remain on the national stage. Regardless of any personal flaws, this man fights.
M J R – Fascinating question. And as to whether Gaetz demanded another position, I think it depends on how damaging the Ethic Committee report actually is.
“Firing is the least of it. I’d like to see a bunch of them strung up from lampposts. Literally.”
My preference is, after proper trials where they are found guilty, they hang from guillotines surrounding The Mall, with their bodies left hanging til the birds pick the bones clean.
Punishment and deterrence to the people in DC who need to be deterred.
No more million dollar “settlements” for wrongful termination suits for criminals. (There’s a middle finger for you. Strozk and Paige.)
Matt Gaetz will do the job that needs doing. As has been noted–it’s already happening. Self deportation doesn’t just happen with illegals.
Trump needs a loyalist at DOJ after the past eight years. I get that. I support that. I just don’t get Matt Gaetz. He’d be great as press secretary (not that he’d take that over a House seat), but not AG. Trump needs a loyalist at DOJ, he doesn’t need DOJ to become a flaming dumpster fire.
I have two theories now. The first is that this is some kind of 4D chess move that ends with Gaetz either out of government or running in the primaries for FL governor or for Senate. (I can’t image that DeSantis would nominate Gaetz to immediately replace Rubio – except perhaps to prevent him from running for governor.) So in this theory, Gaetz gets his House Ethics Committee report deep-sixed and maybe gets to continue to have a political career and Trump gets to run the old Obama/Plouffe “stray voltage” move to keep the heat off of his other unconventional nominees. (I hated “stray voltage” when Obama did it and I hate it when Trump does it too.) If this is it, I think you’ll see Gaetz withdraw before Senate confirmation hearings begin in earnest, because that Ethics Committee report is going to come out in the Senate. (McCarthy will see to it. Also – McCarthy will call in every chip he can muster to prevent Gaetz from being confirmed.)
Getting Gaetz the heck out of the House removes a significant obstacle to the smooth operation of the slim GOP majority. Remember, Trump claims that he didn’t support Gaetz’s maneuver to oust McCarthy, and publicly lamented the GOP infighting at the time. Gaetz, on the other hand, claimed in a very weaselly way, that Trump did support his move. (He said something like . . . after speaking with Trump, I am very confident that I did the right thing . . . implying that Trump did support him when Trump didn’t, at least not publicly.) Which leads to several questions. How loyal is Gaetz really? Can Trump trust Gaetz to not go rogue at the DOJ? And how bad would Trump really feel about screwing over Matt Gaetz? My answers are (I) Gaetz is loyal primarily to himself; (II) Trump really can’t expect Gaetz to do anything other than make messes at the DOJ; and (III) Trump wouldn’t lose any sleep about screwing over Matt Gaetz.
My second theory is that Trump sees this as some sort of “demolition and reconstruction” job, where Gaetz is the demolition man and Trump has someone in mind to come in later and rebuild. But this one doesn’t make as much sense to me. Primarily because you have to get Gaetz in there in order to do the demolition, and I don’t think the Senate will confirm him. Also, the Gaetz nomination makes it much less likely that Republicans in the House and Senate agree to the requisite recesses to allow Trump to make recess appointments.
So my best guess is the first theory, while maybe Trump is hoping for a bit of lee’s “self deportation” to result from the chaos.
Megyn Kelly explains why Trump appointed Matt Gaetz. – 50 second clip…
Trump has a lot capital and *HUGE* voter support right now—going against him could ruin one’s political career. If Gaetz turns out to be a kiss *ss, then Trump owns the mistake…
@Bauxite:Trump needs a loyalist at DOJ after the past eight years. I get that.
It’s not so much “loyalty”, it’s that Trump has appointed outspoken critics of departments to head those departments that have been weaponized; outsiders who are unlikely to go native. It is overdue. It is past time to clean out the Sir Humphreys from the Circumlocution Offices (to mix metaphors).
They need to be held accountable to the electorate, and nobody but Trump has even tried.
The DOJ under Obama and Biden did not content itself with just picking on Trump. Did we forget the school board meetings? Nice, obscure, middle class people have been targeted too.
sigh, we vote them back into power, to build the country up, but of course, they want it to keep things collapsing, they think it’s a game, you would think they would have remorse for having piled on with garland, mayorkas Austin Haaland and a host of other horribles,
Niketas Choniates – Running the DOJ is kind of like flying a commercial airliner. You need a leader who understands and can call out and correct the abuses of the previous pilot. But you also need someone who knows how to fly the plane. Gaetz lacks the experience, character, and temperament to make anyone believe that he actually knows how to fly the plane. For pity’s sake, the guy only practiced law full time for two years before running for office. Gaetz’ lack of qualifications for the position is a problem. It’s a big problem.
Frankly, I doubt that even Trump sees Gaetz as anything more than a short-termer at DOJ, and if Trump is smart (which he is), he doesn’t actually want Gaetz at DOJ at all.
we saw how willingly the bulk of DOJ employees were willing to betray their oath of office, same with the Bureau everyone complicit in the Maralago raid, everyone who continues this bogus roundup of ‘garbage people’ who served warrants they knew to be false, who jailed attorneys of the opposition party,
what was it, two handfuls that actually spoke truth to power, about all of this,
so in Panem, actual criminals had no fear while Matthew Graves put on his best Vyshinsky hat, same with Dread Pirate Smith,
in terms of those who even spoke the truth, you have Julie Kelly, you have Susan Crabtree,
Mollie Hemingway, a few others but the Media was/ maybe it’s always been a high end cathouse,
I can’t imagine that DeSantis would appoint Gaetz to the Senate. Apart from the timing, the two men seem like oil and water.
They need someone at DOJ who can and will expose what went on in the emails and memos; someone who will stop the targeting of people on the Right, someone who will stop the hunts for phantom white supremacist terror networks. There is no “qualified” swamp creature who will do those things.
Matt Whitaker, but we know how they treated him,
you know it never occurred to anyone to lock someone up for ‘election denialism’ because they gave an orthodox legal opinion, DC couldn’t handle the overflow,
lake mcauliffe or michael moore or whoever you want to pick from 2000-2020
over in the uk, they are trying to jail telegraph columnists for the wrong tweet,
sorry perfidious albion, this is Mr Starmer’s reign of terror,
across the channel, the regime is trying to ban marine le pen, from office for five years something having to do with eu funds,
thats their definition of democracy,
Perhaps Trump wants the DOJ to play wingman for the work done by other agencies.