With shock and awe, President-elect Donald Trump has dropped a trifecta of Cabinet nominations that center on a quality he may value above all else: loyalty.
Pete Hegseth, a Fox News personality, is the choice for defense secretary. Former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, a Democrat-turned-Republican and dabbler in conspiracy theories, is up for director of national intelligence.
Why We Wrote This
President-elect Donald Trump’s controversial Cabinet choices came after a series of selections widely deemed more credible. They will present an immediate litmus test for Republican senators.
And most eye-popping of all, Rep. Matt Gaetz – a political bomb-thrower who has faced federal and congressional investigations into alleged unsavory personal conduct – is now President-elect Trump’s nominee for U.S. attorney general.
If confirmed, the Florida Republican would run the very department that, until last year, considered indicting him for alleged sex trafficking, among other charges. Many senators, including Republicans, voiced immediate skepticism over the Gaetz pick, raising the possibility of a recess appointment – with no Senate vote at all. Either way, Mr. Trump has immediately put new Senate Majority Leader John Thune – who was elected Wednesday – in a difficult position.
“[Mr. Trump’s] concern with loyalty has intensified after four years of fighting off legal battles and experiencing some criticism from former members of his administration during the first term,” says William Galston, chair of Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution in Washington.
With shock and awe, President-elect Donald Trump has dropped a trifecta of Cabinet nominations that center on a quality he may value above all else: loyalty.
Pete Hegseth, a Fox News personality, is the choice for defense secretary. Former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, a Democrat-turned-Republican and dabbler in conspiracy theories, is up for director of national intelligence.
And most eye-popping of all, Rep. Matt Gaetz – a political bomb-thrower who has faced federal and congressional investigations into alleged unsavory personal conduct – is now President-elect Trump’s nominee for U.S. attorney general.
Why We Wrote This
President-elect Donald Trump’s controversial Cabinet choices came after a series of selections widely deemed more credible. They will present an immediate litmus test for Republican senators.
If confirmed, the Florida Republican would run the very department that, until last year, considered indicting him for alleged sex trafficking, among other charges. Many senators, including Republicans, voiced immediate skepticism over the Gaetz pick, raising the possibility of a recess appointment with no Senate vote at all. Either way, Mr. Trump has immediately put new Senate Majority Leader John Thune – who was elected Wednesday – in a difficult position.
On Wednesday night, the 42-year-old Mr. Gaetz resigned from Congress, ending the ongoing investigation by the bipartisan House Ethics Committee into allegations that included sexual misconduct, illicit drug use, and improper gifts, according to a committee statement in June.
But that doesn’t mean a confirmation hearing, if it happens, won’t surface those questions.
Mr. Trump’s controversial Cabinet choices came after a series of selections widely deemed more credible, including Florida Sen. Marco Rubio for secretary of state. Now, the once-and-future president is doing what many expected all along after he won the Nov. 5 election: nominating people who would poke Washington in the eye and test the boundaries of credibility.
The Cabinet picks also underscore Mr. Trump’s main takeaways from his first term as president and a postpresidency spent battling federal and state criminal indictments – and verbal attacks from former top aides and Cabinet secretaries.
“If anything, his concern with loyalty has intensified after four years of fighting off legal battles and experiencing some criticism from former members of his administration during the first term,” says William Galston, chair of Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution in Washington.
The lesson Mr. Trump seems to have taken from his first term, Mr. Galston adds, isn’t that he should be more prudent, but that he should “surround himself with people who will enable his instincts, whatever they are.”
Mr. Gaetz’s loyalty to Mr. Trump, and willingness to toss proverbial bombs in Washington’s corridors of power, has shown no bounds, at least in public.
When he attended Mr. Trump’s criminal trial in Manhattan in May, he posted a photo of himself on social media that echoed language the president-elect had used during a 2020 debate in reference to the far-right militant group Proud Boys.
“Standing back and standing by, Mr. President,” the Florida Republican wrote.
In the announcement Wednesday of his attorney general nomination, the president-elect offered effusive praise for Mr. Gaetz.
“Matt will end Weaponized Government, protect our Borders, dismantle Criminal Organizations and restore Americans’ badly-shattered Faith and Confidence in the Justice Department,” Mr. Trump said in his statement.
Former federal prosecutors expressed concern over the Gaetz pick and its possible implications for Mr. Trump’s second term.
“The great fear is that the enormous power of the attorney general’s office is going to be handed over to someone who has personal vendettas and political agendas rather than a desire to be a champion of justice,” says Jeffrey Cohen, a former assistant U.S. attorney and associate professor at Boston College Law School.
Barbara McQuade, another former U.S. attorney and a professor at the University of Michigan Law School, echoes Mr. Cohen’s comments and adds concern about Mr. Gaetz’s “lack of experience.” He has a degree from William & Mary Law School, but practiced law only briefly before becoming a state representative and, since 2017, a member of Congress.
“Charging, plea, and sentencing decisions all require a delicate balance of multiple facts,” says Ms. McQuade in an email. She finds it hard to imagine someone could do that effectively at the highest level of our government without ever having done so at other levels.
Beyond that, Ms. McQuade says there are concerns over accusations that the Department of Justice has become “weaponized” and is engaging in “lawfare.” She describes Mr. Gaetz’s accusations as lies meant to discredit the prosecutions of Mr. Trump over the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol and the former president’s possession of classified documents.
Those cases will effectively end after special counsel Jack Smith steps down, his reported plan before Mr. Trump takes office again. Ms. McQuade expresses concern that “ending those cases would restore trust only to members of the public who have been disinformed by Trump. The rest of the country will lose faith in the department.”
Some observers have speculated that Mr. Trump may have nominated Mr. Gaetz knowing he’d be shot down, and thus clearing the way for slightly less controversial picks to be confirmed.
Kevin Lamarque/Reuters/File
Mr. Trump could also confirm some nominees – including Mr. Gaetz – via recess appointments, a way to bypasses the Senate that’s legal but circumvents its advise-and-consent role as laid out in the Constitution. To smooth his path to election as majority leader Wednesday, Senator Thune agreed to consider recess appointments of Trump nominees.
Still, many senators from both sides of the aisle expressed surprise and skepticism over Mr. Gaetz’s nomination to head the Justice Department.
“I don’t think it’s a serious nomination for attorney general,” Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska told reporters Wednesday.
“He’s got his work cut out for him,” GOP Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa said shortly after Mr. Gaetz’s nomination, suggesting that defending it would be challenging.
Elon Musk, Mr. Trump’s new sidekick, shared on his social media platform X an NBC News video of Pennsylvania Democratic Sen. John Fetterman, who suggested the Gaetz pick was a strategic move to upset Democrats. Mr. Fetterman called the nomination “god-tier-level trolling” meant to “own the libs in perpetuity.”
By Thursday morning, Mr. Musk’s post had 10 million views.
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