Donald Trump wishes he had stuck to his guns and urged Matt Gaetz not to give up his fight to become attorney general.
The president has told aides that he believes Gaetz would have ultimately been confirmed in spite of senators’ concerns about the former congressman’s sexual misconduct allegations, the Daily Beast has learned.
After Gaetz pulled his name from consideration in November, Trump said the former Florida MAGA firebrand showed his “respect” by saying he didn’t want to be a “distraction” to the incoming administration.
“I remain fully committed to see that Donald J. Trump is the most successful President in history,” Gaetz added at the time. “I will forever be honored that President Trump nominated me to lead the Department of Justice and I’m certain he will Save America.”
The Daily Beast has reached out to Gaetz seeking comment about the president’s apparent regrets.
The president’s second choice to head the Department of Justice, Pam Bondi, sailed through her confirmation process, securing her Cabinet position with a 54-46 final vote in the Senate. One Democrat, Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, joined all Republicans in approving her nomination.
Gaetz could only afford to lose three Republican votes in the closely divided Senate, and his hopes of being confirmed appeared tenuous at the time.
But since then, all of Trump’s controversial Cabinet picks have sailed through relatively easily in what was expected to be a drawn-out and contentious process. The closest to missing out was Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who was confirmed by a single vote.
“The president has said he now feels they could have gotten Matt through,” a White House insider tells the Beast. “He feels bad for him.”
Trump had canvassed lawmakers after announcing Gaetz as his AG pick in November and assessed at the time that he had a 50/50 chance of surviving his committee grilling from Democrats and some Republicans who worried about his alleged salacious sex scandals.
The conservative firebrand was under scrutiny over allegations of sex trafficking and having sex with a minor, accusations he has long denied.
The president’s other controversial choices, such as Tulsi Gabbard as National Intelligence Director, RFK Jr as health chief, and Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem were all confirmed with little real fuss.
Kash Patel was expected to be a hard sell as FBI director, but his confirmation was never in any real doubt as GOP senators bowed to Trump’s will. He was a sure bet to be confirmed into the 10-year role on Thursday.
