Trump selects Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz for attorney general

President-elect Donald Trump has picked bomb-throwing Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz as attorney general.

If confirmed by the GOP-controlled Senate, Trump will elevate the Florida Republican to arguably the most important Cabinet post in the next Trump administration.

President-elect Donald Trump has picked bomb-throwing Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz as attorney general.

If confirmed by the GOP-controlled Senate, Trump will elevate the Florida Republican to arguably the most important Cabinet post in the next Trump administration.

Gaetz, who graduated from William & Mary Law School and practiced law in Florida before he was elected to the state legislature there, has also amplified some of Trump’s most incendiary rhetoric about the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. The lawmaker has downplayed the violence that day, describing a “two-tiered justice system” for its perpetrators and fomenting conspiracy theories about the riot.

Gaetz also played a direct role in the events that preceded Jan. 6, working with other Republican allies to pressure then-Vice President Mike Pence to embrace an unprecedented call to single-handedly undermine the certification of Joe Biden’s victory. Gaetz attended White House meetings to discuss the scheme, and he has described directly asking Pence to take that step.

Once Trump regains control of the Justice Department, one of his immediate goals will be to shut down the two federal criminal cases against him — if they remain pending when Trump is inaugurated on Jan. 20. Special counsel Jack Smith brought the two cases: one for Trump’s efforts seeking to subvert the 2020 election and another for hoarding classified documents at Mar-a-Lago after he left the White House. A Trump-appointed judge dismissed the classified documents case in July, though Smith had been seeking to reinstate it.

Trump on the campaign trail said he would fire Smith “within two seconds” if he was elected and has threatened to prosecute him.

After Trump’s election, DOJ officials signaled they would wind down both cases given the department’s long-standing policy preventing it from pursuing charges against sitting presidents. But if either case remains active when Trump is sworn in, he will surely expect his attorney general to drop the charges immediately. Some career officials are considering leaving the department before that happens, fearing Trump’s penchant for threats and retribution.

Trump appears intent on using the Justice Department to exact revenge on his political foes. He has threatened criminal charges or other reprisals against Biden and his family, Vice President Kamala Harris, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who successfully prosecuted Trump in the New York hush money criminal case, members of the House Jan. 6 select committee, and many others. He has also threatened to prosecute a host of unnamed Democratic lawyers, political operatives, “illegal voters” and election officials, as well as judges and court officials.