(Photo by Saul Loeb-Pool/Getty Images)
It’s been a day since president-elect Donald Trump made the eye-popping pick of Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz for Attorney General. It’s not hyperbolic to say the reaction to the pick has fallen somewhere between horrified and stunned, though maybe surprisingly not as much vitriol is coming from the left.
But there is still a *ton* of upheaval over the pick. Bloomberg Law reports one former DOJ official thinks the decision is “putrid.”
“This choice is putrid,” said a former senior Trump DOJ official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in order to talk candidly about peers’ reactions. “I can’t imagine anybody with integrity would want to work for this guy as attorney general. Period. Full stop.”
Richard Donoghue, former acting deputy attorney general and now a partner at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, told Bloomberg what may be the kindest reaction to Gaetz’s nomination, “surprising, to say the least.”
Former Biglaw partner/White House attorney Ty Cobb called the pick a “fuck you to America” on CNN. Cobb continued the insults, saying Gaetz is unqualified “academically, professionally, ethically, morally and experientially.” “He has no business being in this conversation,” he said, and that the selection is “not serious” and “contemptuous.”
“Matt Gaetz is just simply unqualified…he has no business being in this conversation.”
Former Trump WH lawyer Ty Cobb on why he thinks Trump picking Gaetz for AG is a “f**k you” to America pic.twitter.com/DLTaHuTqFF
— Erin Burnett OutFront (@OutFrontCNN) November 14, 2024
Even GOP members, well aware their party is in Trump’s hands, have expressed difficulty with the pick. A Punchbowl News reporter was around some Republican Congress members when the announcement came out and posted, “Safe to say that GOP senators are stunned—not in a good way.” A Politico reporter observed similar disbelief, “I’m looking at a House Republican who is laughing so hard in a group of members that he’s wiping away tears.” Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) said he had “no good comment.”
When news of Gaetz’z likely elevation reached Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R) she said, “Wow.” Asked to elaborate, “I just said, ‘Wow.’” She added Gaetz isn’t a “serious” pick, “We need a serious attorney general. I’m looking forward to the opportunity to consider somebody that is serious. ….This one was not on my bingo card.” Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) has already said she won’t support the pick (jury’s still out on whether that changes).
Rep. John Duarte (R-Calif.) said Gaetz is “a compromised AG” and that “there are better choices.” That reaction has the benefit (for Duarte) of shading Gaetz while still sounding MAGA strong, a delicate rhetorical balance to be sure.
Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho) was incredulous when confronted with the news of Trump’s pick, saying, “Are you shittin’ me?”
Seems like everyone’s got jokes dunking on Gaetz. Rep. Max Miller (R-OH) said: “Gaetz has a better shot at having dinner with Queen Elizabeth II [who is dead] than being confirmed by the Senate.” Miller also told Politico that Gaetz is “a reckless pick” with “a zero percent shot.”
And off the record, Republicans were speculating — unflatteringly — about the pick.
One House Republican, granted anonymity to speak candidly, had a theory of the case: “Sometimes a president appoints to reward a person. All the while, knowing that it will not go through. When it does not go through, they can appoint the back-up and they have cover for doing so.”
That theory is gaining traction, with the conservative Washington Examiner calling Gaetz a “sacrificial lamb.”
Former National Security Advisor John Bolton said Gaetz “must be the worst” Cabinet nomination “in American history.”
David Laufman, the former chief of the Counterintelligence and Export Control Section in the Department of Justice’s National Security Division, said the pick was “a vomit in your mouth moment.” That will turn the DOJ “into a petting zoo for the new president, and it’s going to demolish morale within the department.” Evocative!
Robert Weissman, co-president of the consumer advocacy nonprofit Public Citizen, called Gaetz “singularly unqualified.” He continued, “Under Gaetz, we’d have every reason to expect an America where corporate criminals walk free, but immigrants and people of color are harassed or rounded up with minimal pretext,” which is terrifying and all, but with less lolz than some of the reactions.
NYU Law professor Stephen Gillers notes, “Measured by experience, intellect, and temperament, Gaetz is singularly unqualified to lead the Justice Department.”
Even the Economist called Matt Gaetz “a cartoonishly divisive Florida congressman, who is despised even by many in his own party,” and a “bad omen” selected because his “personal loyalty to Mr Trump will be unbound by any scruple.”
Elie Honig, former assistant United States attorney, backed away from his experimentation in MAGA-land to condemn the pick calling it “crazy” and “dangerous.” “He is there to weaponize. And, you know, I am not into these doomsday scenarios. I don’t buy into them. But as somebody who spent a career at the Justice Department, this is of grave concern to me,” he continued. Not to mention Gaetz’s complete lack of experience! “[Gaetz] has never worked a day in his life as a prosecutor,” Honig said. “He’s only practiced law for a few years at the very local level. We’ve had AGs before who have never been prosecutors, but they’ve all had serious positions in the Justice Department in non-prosecutorial roles. Matt Gaetz is completely unknown to this profession.”
And these are only the first impressions folks have about Gaetz as AG! If he actually winds up with the job, the bar for ridiculing Matt Gaetz will be raised.
Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter @Kathryn1 or Mastodon @[email protected].