There’s no way that any president other than Donald Trump would have ever considered Matt Gaetz as attorney general.
Sure, Trump’s first attorney general was Jeff Sessions, who was controversial, but he had at least been a U.S. Senator for many years. William Barr, his successor, at least had a background in the conservative legal movement and had earlier had another stint as attorney general, during the George H.W. Bush administration. And Sessions and Barr, of course, both ended up at odds with Trump.
But Gaetz, who has a light resume as a lawyer and has been accused of various forms of sexual misconduct, very clearly has zero qualifications for the job, aside from loyalty to Donald Trump and a willingness to carry out Trump’s dirty work.
And now, Gaetz’s nomination could be in some trouble.
I’ve always been skeptical about Gaetz’s chances. I wonder if there’ll be any negotiations with R senators. Say along the lines of pulling Gaetz or letting him go down in exchange for them swallowing the rest of Trump’s picks and whoever the next AG is. https://t.co/hBDf3jpAs8
— Varad Mehta (@varadmehta) November 19, 2024
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According to a Politico report on Wednesday, Senate Republicans have informed the Trump transition team that Gaetz “has little chance of being confirmed,” and are hoping his nomination will be withdrawn so they don’t have to “walk the plank” and vote against him. The message has been delivered to Trump, as well as J.D. Vance, who is described as Gaetz’s “sherpa.”
Republican Senators, per the report, are worried both about facing a primary challenge if they oppose Gaetz, and losing a general election matchup if they support him.
“There’s a fear that Trump is going to waste precious political capital trying to push Gaetz through when he could instead be working on advancing other, more feasible nominations — not to mention his governing agenda,” the Politico piece. The New York Times reported this week that Trump himself believes there is less than a 50 percent chance of Gaetz being confirmed.
Also on Wednesday, the House Ethics Committee began meeting to discuss whether to release its report on its long-running investigation over whether or not Gaetz committed sexual misconduct. Gaetz has denied any wrongdoing.
SCOOP: Senate Judiciary Dems officially request the FBI file for MATT GAETZhttps://t.co/IGO3Bbd6e9
— Rachael Bade (@rachaelmbade) November 20, 2024
Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) said this week that he expects details of the report to come out, and also suggested that he might bring in Gaetz’s accusers to testify before a confirmation hearing.
Trump has also pushed for recess appointments, which would allow him to bypass confirmations altogether, but that power has never been used by a president in that way.
Photo courtesy of Political Tribune media library.
