Matt Gaetz, Trump’s uniquely unqualified pick for attorney general, explained

Donald Trump announced that he intends to nominate Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) to serve as his attorney general. 

Gaetz is a longtime Trump loyalist, who will likely be tasked with remaking the Department of Justice. The department has traditionally adhered to strong norms against interference by the president; Trump and his allies have been explicit in arguing that should change. Trump has also repeatedly called for legal action against his political enemies, including promising to “appoint a real special prosecutor to go after the most corrupt president history of the United States of America, Joe Biden, and the entire Biden crime family,” in 2023.

Enforcing those sorts of threats would fall to Gaetz, if he is confirmed by the Senate.

Before being nominated to be attorney general, Gaetz was probably best known for two things. One is his longstanding feud with former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), who was eventually ousted in no small part because of Gaetz. The other is the string of sexual misconduct allegations. Gaetz denies these allegations, and the Department of Justice dropped its investigation into them in 2023.

If Gaetz does end up running that same department, he’ll be in a uniquely powerful role. He would be tasked with overseeing all federal prosecutions, providing legal advice to the president and the Cabinet, and would have the final say on any legal stance that the United States takes in court. 

Of greater significance perhaps is the fact that Gaetz would have enormous authority over who is prosecuted, who is allowed to get away with committing federal crimes, and who might be targeted for politically motivated prosecutions in an authoritarian administration.

Trump has repeatedly promised “retribution” against his Democratic rivals. And his fellow Republicans on the Supreme Court ruled last July that he can order the Justice Department to bring politically motivated prosecutions without consequence.

In the first Trump administration, Trump reportedly wanted to order the Justice Department to prosecute his former political opponent Hillary Clinton and former FBI director James Comey, but was dissuaded from doing so by White House Counsel Don McGahn. Gaetz’s strong support for Trump, by contrast, makes it seem he’s much less likely to resist such an order.

Just who is Matt Gaetz? 

Gaetz has a law degree, and he did previously practice law in northwest Florida. He’s been a representative since 2017, and became known both for stunts on the House floor — like wearing a gas mask to protest masking policies during the coronavirus pandemic — as well as his staunch support for Trump.

In 2021, it was revealed that Gaetz was the subject of an investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct.

The allegations arose out of his relationship with Joel Greenberg, a former county-level tax collector who was sentenced to 11 years in prison by a federal judge in 2022. Greenberg pled guilty to a wide range of crimes, including underage sex trafficking, wire fraud, identity theft, and conspiring to defraud the federal government. Judge Gregory Presnell, who sentenced Greenberg, said that he’s “never seen a defendant who has committed so many different types of crimes in such a relatively short period.”

According to CNN, Greenberg also “cooperated extensively with the Justice Department’s sex-trafficking probe into GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz.” Among other things, Greenberg reportedly told investigators that he witnessed Gaetz having sex with a 17-year-old girl. (Gaetz in 2021 issued a blanket denial of the allegations via a statement from his office, writing: “No part of the allegations against me are true.”)

As a general rule, sex offenses such as soliciting prostitution are handled by state-level prosecutors, as the Constitution only gives the federal government limited authority over sex crimes. The US Justice Department can get involved, however, in narrow circumstances. 

The Justice Department’s investigation into Gaetz looked into whether he had sex with this teenager and paid for her to travel with him. It is a federal crime to transport someone across state lines, with the intent that they engage in prostitution or “illicit sexual conduct.” The most serious violations of this statute carry a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison.

In any event, the Justice Department eventually decided not to charge Gaetz. Its reasons for declining to do so have not been made public, but the lack of charges does not necessarily clear him of the allegations. Meanwhile, a House ethics investigation into Gaetz remains ongoing.

According to ABC News, one woman told the House committee investigating Gaetz that the member of Congress paid her for sex. Others have said they were paid to attend parties that Gaetz also attended, where attendees used drugs and had sex. Again, Gaetz has denied any misconduct.

As of yet, it’s unclear whether a majority of senators will vote to confirm Gaetz as attorney general. But there’s some evidence that many Republicans will be turned off by the sex crimes allegations against Gaetz, and by his generally poor reputation on Capitol Hill. In 2023, for example, Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) said that “there’s a reason why no one in the [Republican] conference defended” Gaetz after seeing some of the evidence against him.

As New York Times columnist Ezra Klein writes, Trump’s decision to nominate Gaetz should be read as an effort to gauge whether Republican senators will permit him to take absurd and dangerous actions. “These aren’t just appointments,” Klein writes of Gaetz and Defense Secretary nominee Pete Hegseth, “They’re loyalty tests. The absurdity is the point.”