President-elect Donald Trump has privately acknowledged that his nominee for Attorney General, Matt Gaetz, will likely win Senate confirmation, but is still pressuring senators on the issue anyway, according to multiple reports.
Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) confirmed in an interview with Axios that he was among those who received a call from Trump to support the former Florida congressman.
“He obviously wants Matt Gaetz. He believes Matt Gaetz is the only person with the courage and fierceness to do the job that needs to be done at the Department of Justice,” Kramer said. He added, “Trump is a pretty persuasive person.”
Axios also confirmed that Trump made a similar call to at least one other senator.
The New York Times reported that President Trump privately acknowledged that Gaetz, who was under investigation by the House Ethics Committee on allegations of sexual harassment and illegal drug use until he resigned from his Florida congressman last week, faces an uphill battle. Confirmed by the Senate. Media reported that the nomination was part of a more sinister strategy to lower the bar for all candidates.
“He is making the call on behalf of Mr. Gaetz and is confident that even if Mr. Gaetz fails to do so, the criteria for acceptable candidates have changed so much that the Senate could simply confirm other candidates, much to its dismay. of Washington,” the Times reported.
Other controversial Trump nominees include anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services; Pete Hegseth, the Fox News personality accused of sexual assault, will become Secretary of Defense. And Tulsi Gabbard, a former congresswoman favored by Russian state media with no intelligence or national security experience, will serve as director of national intelligence.
If the House Ethics Committee rejects a request from House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and releases the report on Gaetz anyway, Gaetz could become a more viable candidate. The public could be exposed to information that could be included in that report earlier Monday, when an attorney representing two women who testified before the committee said Gaetz paid clients for sexual acts in 2017, one of whom said she witnessed Gaetz having sex with an underage girl. I was able to get a sneak peek of the contents. Both women shared these details when testifying before the committee, the attorney said.
If all Senate Democrats vote against Gaetz’s confirmation, only three Republicans would need to join in to prevent him from becoming attorney general. Some people have already stated that they can do so.
