Donald Trump has nominated Republican congressman Matt Gaetz to serve as attorney general, the nation’s top law enforcement officer, overseeing an agency that could be used to target the president-elect’s rivals.
The 42-year-old GOP lawmaker and Trump loyalist from Florida “has distinguished himself in Congress through his focus on achieving desperately needed reform at the Department of Justice,” Trump said in a statement on Wednesday.
“It will be an honor to serve as President Trump’s Attorney General!” Gaetz wrote on X.
House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters on Wednesday night that Gaetz has already handed him a resignation letter, “effective immediately.”
If confirmed in the Senate, Gaetz will follow current Attorney General Merrick Garland, whose Justice Department carried out a sex trafficking investigation into Gaetz and his associates. Gaetz was ultimately never charged with a crime. His resignation would effectively end a House ethics committee investigation into sexual misconduct and drug use, among other allegations.
Trump said Gaetz will end “weaponized government,” as the former president baselessly accuses President Joe Biden’s administration and Garland of launching politically motivated investigations intended to derail his presidency.
“He is a Champion for the Constitution and the Rule of Law,” Trump added. “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.”
The selection of Gaetz from the president-elect, who has announced a flurry of cabinet-level and White House appointments the days after defeating Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential race, appeared to blindside members of Congress, where the far-right congressman is a polarizing figure who routinely clashes with GOP leadership.
As attorney general, Gaetz would likely be expected to execute the “retribution” and “vengeance” that Trump has vowed against those he believes have wronged him and his supporters. Vice President Kamala Harris has warned that Trump “has an enemies list of people he intends to prosecute” when he returns to the White House on January 20.
Gaetz, an attorney, is among Trump’s most prominent allies on the Hill, where he has raged against special counsel Jack Smith’s investigations into the former president’s attempts to subvert the 2020 election and his possession of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago resort.
Smith has signaled that he is prepared to resign from the role following his years-long investigations, grand jury proceedings and protracted courtroom battles, as Trump said he would fire the special counsel “within two seconds” of entering office.
Congressional Republicans, however, are now preparing to launch investigations of their own, after initiating probes into Biden and his son Hunter as well as the prosecutors and judges overseeing other criminal cases against the former president.
Gaetz has also called for investigations into Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis of Georgia, whose office is prosecuting a case against Trump and more than a dozen of his allies for their attempts to overturn election results in the state.
He also has sought subpoenas for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, whose felony indictment of the former president resulted in a weeks-long trial and a jury’s 34-count criminal conviction for falsifying business records.
Trump has promised mass pardons for the hundreds of criminal defendants convicted in connection with the attack on the Capitol; Gaetz has promoted baseless conspiracy theories surrounding the Trump-fueled assault and falsely insisted years later that Trump won.
Gaetz — who voted against the certification of 2020’s election results — could be in a position to upend investigations into January 6-related cases entirely.
The congressman has also supported anti-abortion legislation in Congress, and as the nation’s top law enforcement officer, he could revive the Comstock Act to target abortion providers and widely used abortion drugs; last year, he joined GOP lawmakers who asked the Supreme Court to block government approval of mifepristone.
Trump’s next attorney general — among the most critical roles in his administration — is expected to defy the Justice Department’s independence and work closely with the White House to protect the president-elect’s agenda.
Mark Paoletta, who served as general counsel of the Office of Management and Budget in Trump’s first term, wrote a lengthy post on X demanding that Justice Department lawyers “be fully committed to implementing President Trump’s policies or they should leave or be fired.”
Paoletta — who has represented right-wing activist Ginni Thomas, the wife of conservative Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, during the House select committee’s investigation into January 6 — said it is their “constitutional duty” to “implement” Trump’s agenda.
Cleta Mitchell — who played a central role in Trump’s spurious efforts to overturn election results in 2020, and who now leads a right-wing activist network targeting election administration across the country — has called for mass firings in the Justice Department’s sections that combat voter suppression.
“There has to be a reckoning,” she wrote. “These are leftwing activists who have come from and should return to their leftwing organizations.”
Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine told reporters at the Capitol on Wednesday that she was “shocked” by the news.
“I’m sure it’ll make for a popcorn eating confirmation,” Republican Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina said.
Democratic Senator Peter Welch of Vermont joked that he though the news came from the satirical newspaper The Onion.
“I think we have to consider any nominee by the president seriously,” said Republican Senator John Cornyn of Texas, who was in the running for Senate Majority Leader. “I don’t know the man, other than his sort of public persona.”
Investigations into allegations of Gaetz’s sexual misconduct “might come up” during confirmation hearings, Cornyn said.
“I mean, I don’t know whether there’s any basis to it or not,” he said. “I’m sure we’ll be asking a lot of questions.
Eric Garcia contributed reporting from Washington DC