Legal experts have called Gaetz “unqualified” after President-elect Donald Trump appointed him as his nominee for attorney general.
President-elect Donald Trump’s decision to nominate Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz for attorney general has stunned legal experts, with some decrying Gaetz as unqualified for the role.
Trump called Gaetz a “deeply gifted and tenacious attorney” when he announced the pick on his Truth Social platform on Wednesday. As attorney general, Gaetz would “root out systemic corruption” at the Department of Justice (DOJ), Trump said.
Gaetz, a fierce Trump loyalist who has frequently criticized the DOJ, resigned from his House seat shortly after the announcement.
Gaetz earned a degree from the William & Mary Law School in 2007 and he was admitted to the Florida Bar in 2008. The association’s website lists him as a member in good standing. He worked at a firm in Fort Walton Beach, Florida, before being elected to serve in the Florida House of Representatives in 2010.
The DOJ ended a sex-trafficking investigation into Gaetz with no charges last year. His resignation on Wednesday ends the House Ethics Committee’s investigation into allegations of child sex trafficking, sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, among other things. Gaetz has denied all allegations of wrongdoing.
Gaetz is “simply unqualified, both academically, professionally, ethically, morally and experientially”, Ty Cobbs, a former Trump White House lawyer, told CNN’s Erin Burnett on Wednesday. “This is a choice that is contemptuous, I think anybody who served in the Justice Department, historically, and most of the people that are there today are deeply saddened by this, and it diminishes the pride with which they associate themselves with the Department of Justice.
