President-elect Donald Trump tapped firebrand former congressman Matt Gaetz to be his attorney general without telling his incoming chief of staff.
Trump was advised to make the shock decision by his longtime advisor Boris Epshteyn, who was indicted earlier this year in Arizona for his alleged participation in a fake electors scheme, according to a report in Politico.
Epshteyn and Gaetz were part of a MAGA entourage on Trump’s plane yesterday flying to Washington, D.C. along with the president-elect.
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Trump picked Gaetz—who was not on the shortlist for the position earlier in the week—on the flight while his incoming chief of staff, Susie Wiles, was one room over and blissfully unaware.
According to the Bulwark, the president-elect was apparently hooked by Gaetz’s willingness to entertain Trump’s stated desire to use the power of office to lash out against his perceived enemies.
“None of the attorneys had what Trump wants, and they didn’t talk like Gaetz,” one anonymous Trump advisor told the news outlet. “Everyone else looked at AG as if they were applying for a judicial appointment. They talked about their vaunted legal theories and constitutional bulls—t. Gaetz was the only one who said, ‘yeah, I’ll go over there and start cuttin’ f—in’ heads.’”
Gaetz, a bombastic former Florida congressman, stepped down from the House of Representatives Wednesday, mere days before the House Ethics Committee was set to vote on whether to release a report concerning sexual misconduct and drug allegations against him.
By resigning, Gaetz ensured that the bipartisan committee must halt the investigation because it no longer has jurisdiction over him, according to congressional rules.
He nevertheless faces an uphill battle to secure enough votes in the Senate to be appointed AG.
Even plenty of D.C. Republicans expressed shock at Trump’s decision to put him forward as the country’s highest law enforcement official. GOP Senators Susan Collins (R-ME) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) both indicated they will oppose his nomination.
Gaetz, 42, is better know for his solidly right-wing politics than for his very brief and unremarkable legal career before he entered Congress.
But political persuasions are arguably overshadowed by his alleged misdeeds, which include sleeping with a 17-year old and the use of illicit drugs.
