Matt Gaetz selection as Attorney General draws quick blowback from halls of Congress and social media
Donald Trump has tapped GOP Representative Matt Gaetz of Florida for Attorney General, prompting concern and disdain among lawmakers and social media users on both sides of the aisle.
Trump’s nomination of Gaetz comes after the lawmaker and his associates were at the center of a sex trafficking investigation carried out by current Attorney General Merrick Garland. Gaetz was ultimately never charged with a crime but remains the subject of a House ethics committee investigation regarding, among other claims, allegations he had sex with a minor. Gaetz has denied all wrongdoing.
“He is a Champion for the Constitution and the Rule of Law,” Trump wrote in his announcement. “Matt will root out the systemic corruption at DOJ, and return the Department to its true mission of fighting Crime, and upholding our Democracy and Constitution.”
Billionaire Elon Musk, a Trump loyalist and co-chair of the president-elect’s new Department of Government Efficiency, appeared to celebrate the news on X: “The hammer of justice is coming.”
Senator Peter Welch, a Vermont Democrat, told The Independent the announcement – released Wednesday afternoon – sounded like a headline in a satire publication. “That was in The Onion,” Welch said.
Other Democrats condemned the announcement in more serious terms, recalling the scandals around the Florida lawmaker.
Fellow Florida Representative Maxwell Frost, a Democrat and the first Gen-Z congressman, voiced his shock on X.
“Holy s***. Trump will nominate Matt Gaetz as Attorney General,” Frost wrote. “The man who was at the center of a sex trafficking probe. God help us.”
Montana State Representative Zooey Zephyr, a Democrat and LGBTQ-rights activist, also condemned the move.
“Matt Gaetz as Attorney General is also unconscionable, given he was under investigation for his role in an underage sex trafficking case,” she wrote on X.
Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried called Gaetz’s nomination a “living nightmare.”
“Donald Trump is raiding our state for any Florida Man loyal to him, no matter how incompetent, unqualified, or extreme they may be,” Fried said in a statement. “Tapping Marco Rubio as Secretary of State and Mike Waltz as National Security Advisor is a serious cause for concern, but nominating Matt Gaetz as Attorney General is beyond catastrophic for the country.”
Democrats aren’t the only ones reeling from the decision.
Former GOP Representative Joe Walsh of Illinois told The Independent that “no one should be surprised” by Gaetz’s nomination.
