Matt Gaetz attorney general pick stirs anxiety, consternation

WASHINGTON –

Donald Trump’s pick of Matt Gaetz to be attorney general has many Justice Department employees reeling, worried not only about their own jobs but the future of the agency that the Trump loyalist has challenged.

The US president-elect’s choice of the Florida Republican sent shockwaves throughout the Cabinet department, given Gaetz’s lack of law enforcement experience and the fact that he was once the subject of a federal sex-trafficking investigation. The names of well-regarded veteran lawyers had been circulated as possible candidates for the job, but Gaetz’s selection was widely interpreted as an indication of the premium Trump places on personal loyalty and Trump’s desire to have a disruptor lead a department that has spent years investigating and finally indicted him.

Career attorneys at the department interviewed by The Associated Press, all of whom spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to share their feelings publicly, described a widespread feeling of being stunned by the nomination — even outrage. They spoke of being inundated with calls and messages from colleagues as soon as the news broke.

Some inside the department weren’t immediately sure that Gaetz, who graduated from law school in 2007 but has spent his career as a lawmaker, including in Congress, was even a lawyer. And some are already looking for new jobs as concern grows over Gaetz’s rhetoric about going after the “deep state.”

Gaetz has claimed the department is “corrupt and highly political” and strongly criticized the federal prosecutions of Trump and the Jan. 6 rioters. He has also proposed abolishing two agencies he would oversee as attorney general, the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. He would arrive at the job without the legal experience of his predecessors, including current Attorney General Merrick Garland, who as a senior Justice Department official oversaw the prosecution of the Oklahoma City bombing case before becoming a federal appeals court judge.

Trump described Gaetz as the right person to “root out the systemic corruption” within the agency, put an end to a “gun-driven” government and “restore Americans’ badly broken faith and trust in the Department of Justice.” Trump has yet to announce a similar leadership change at the FBI, although one may be forthcoming given his longstanding criticism of the director, Christopher Wray.

“I think he was elected to shake it all up and throw a grenade into the DOJ,” said John Fishwick Jr., a former U.S. attorney for the Western District of Virginia who was nominated by Democratic former U.S. President Barack Obama. “He’s a flamethrower, and that’s what Trump wants.”

Fishwick said the Justice Department lawyers he has been in contact with are “concerned about what this is going to mean for them individually.”

But a Justice Department lawyer was less bothered by the change, saying a leadership shakeup could be a welcome reset given the “distrust from both the left and the right,” which the lawyer said was justified after a tumultuous stretch of politically charged investigations, that has divided public opinion and put federal law enforcement on the defensive.

The FBI and Justice Department have in recent years conducted investigations into hot-button cases, including classified information on Hillary Clinton’s private email server when the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee was Obama’s secretary of state and potential ties between Russia and Trump’s political campaign. year. Both were the subject of inspector general reviews. Recently, there was a special counsel investigation that produced federal charges against Trump that are now in line to be expunged.

It is unclear whether Gaetz has enough Republican support in the Senate to be confirmed. Some Republicans have praised his nomination, but more have expressed concern or declined to say publicly yet whether they will support him. Trump has opened up the possibility of bypassing the traditional confirmation process by pushing his nominees through while the Senate is in recess.

Gaetz faces continued investigation in a federal sex-trafficking investigation that ended without criminal charges. Before he resigned from Parliament on Wednesday, he had been under investigation by the House Ethics Committee, which investigated whether he engaged in sexual misconduct and illegal drug use, accepted improper gifts and tried to obstruct government investigations into his conduct.

House Speaker Mike Johnson said Friday he will “strongly request” that the House committee not release the results of its investigation, rebuffing senators demanding access now that Gaetz is Trump’s pick for attorney general.

Gaetz has denied all the charges. On Friday, he wrote on X, formerly Twitter, that “lies were weaponized” in an attempt to try to destroy him.

Justice Department officials were already preparing for a major overhaul of the agency’s agenda on civil rights and other issues before Trump settled on Gaetz as the nation’s top federal law enforcement officer.

Trump has been known to take a keen interest in the FBI and Justice Department, expecting loyalty from leaders and calling for specific actions. He has spoken out against what he sees as a politically motivated justice system over the cases brought against him by a special counsel in the Ministry of Justice. As a candidate, he repeatedly suggested that he would seek revenge on his perceived enemies for his prosecution.

Some career division attorneys leave for the private sector whenever a new administration comes in, but staffers say there could be a dramatic attrition in the coming months.

“The department runs on career employees, people who are apolitical at work, and politics aside, if all these people are so horrified by the election of the attorney general that they leave, who is going to carry out the functions of the department?” said a Justice Department lawyer who plans to leave the government.

Chris Mattei, a former Connecticut federal prosecutor who prosecuted former Gov. John Rowland, and later ran unsuccessfully for attorney general as a Democrat, said he has heard a “significant level of concern” about Gaetz over the criminal investigation Gaetz faced, the House ethics review, a potentially inadequate investigation into his background and the prospect that the department could be led by “someone who is deeply compromised” and may also have a “personal vendetta” against it.

Associated Press writer Mary Clare Jalonick contributed to this report.