Some Republicans have expressed shock over Gaetz’s attorney general nomination, raising questions about his confirmation chances.
President-elect Donald Trump’s selection of Representative Matt Gaetz for attorney general is nothing more than a “shiny object” to distract from another Cabinet nominee, Tulsi Gabbard, according to legal scholar Laurence Tribe.
Trump announced Gaetz’s nomination on Wednesday, and the decision was almost immediately met with skepticism from some Republicans. The Florida lawmaker has butted heads on several occasions with more traditional conservatives in the House and is under investigation by the House Ethics Committee for allegations of sexual misconduct.
Since his decisive victory last week, Trump has wasted no time filling out his next administration. Before his announcement about Gaetz’s selection, he released a statement saying he had picked Tulsi Gabbard, a former Democratic lawmaker from Hawaii who recently announced she had joined the GOP, as director of national intelligence, a choice that has also drawn skepticism.
“My best guess: Matt Gaetz is simply the shiny object that Trump is dangling out there to distract from Tulsi Gabbard and to generate a sigh of relief when Matt Whitaker or some other relatively normal type is nominated to be [attorney general] after Gaetz goes down in flames”, Tribe wrote on X (formerly Twitter) on Thursday.
