As we discussed, Donald Trump has chosen Matt Gaetz as his nominee for Attorney General. Gaetz has long been on the national radar as a credibly accused statutory rapist and human trafficker who has been investigated by federal authorities, state authorities and the House Ethics Committee. In fact, it looks like Gaetz’s nomination to DOJ came at just the right moment, because the Ethics Committee was going to release their findings in their years-long investigation today, Friday. That was the plan before Gaetz’s nomination, and he’s already resigned his seat in the House. So, is the Ethics Committee still going to release their report? Because Republican Senators are actually interested in vetting Gaetz.
Republican senators are preparing for a robust vetting of Matt Gaetz, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Justice Department, with a keen interest in details from a House Ethics Committee investigation into the former congressman from Florida.
The ethics panel has been investigating Gaetz off and on since 2021, most recently focusing on alleged sexual misconduct, illicit drug use, accepting improper gifts, obstruction and other allegations. But the results of that probe may not become public because Gaetz resigned from the House at noon on Thursday. The Ethics Committee has jurisdiction only over sitting House members.
Trump’s choice of Gaetz was a surprise to nearly everyone, including members of his own party and officials at the Justice Department — in part because of the Ethics investigation, his past legal problems and his reputation as a rabble-rouser in Congress.
A source familiar with the process told NBC News that Gaetz had been consulting Trump on who would be best to run the Justice Department. Gaetz did not ask for the role, that person said, but Trump asked him to take on the job Wednesday morning, just hours before the decision was made public. Many Republican senators, including members of the GOP-led Judiciary Committee that will oversee Gaetz’s nomination for attorney general, said they’ll want to see the details of the House Ethics investigation into Gaetz.
“I think it would be helpful,” said Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa. Sen.-elect John Curtis, R-Utah, said he would “absolutely” like to see the findings of the House Ethics Committee investigation, saying, “I don’t know the technicalities, or whether or not we would see that, but I think that would be very relevant.”
The House Ethics Committee is meeting today, and it’s widely assumed that they’ll privately debate whether or not they’ll still release their report. Meanwhile, someone on the committee has already leaked some of the testimony The committee heard testimony from a woman, now in her 20s, who said that Matt Gaetz had sex with her when she was only 17 years old.
The woman who was at the center of a yearslong Justice Department investigation into sex trafficking allegations surrounding Rep. Matt Gaetz testified to the House Ethics Committee that the now-former Florida congressman had sex with her when she was 17 years old, sources familiar with the investigation told ABC News.
Over the summer, the House Ethics Committee subpoenaed the woman at the center of the probe — who is now in her 20s — and she sat for multiple days of testimony where she testified to the committee that Gaetz had sex with her when she was a minor in high school, sources close to the investigation said.
“These allegations are invented and would constitute false testimony to Congress,” Gaetz said in response to ABC News’ reporting. “This false smear following a three-year criminal investigation should be viewed with great skepticism.”
The Justice Department spent years probing the allegations against Gaetz, including allegations of obstruction of justice, before informing Gaetz last year that it would not bring charges. Gaetz has long denied any wrongdoing related to the Justice Department probe. In September, he released a detailed response to questions sent to him by the House Ethics Committee, which has been investigating allegations of alleged sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, reiterating his denial of the allegations.
Again, I seriously doubt anything will come from all of these reports of nervous Republicans, reluctant to confirm Gaetz. Gaetz will either be confirmed or Trump will push Congress into recess and he’ll get Gaetz as a recess appointment. Those are the only two options here – Matt Gaetz, a man widely known to have a penchant for drugs, Botox and teenagers, is absolutely going to be Attorney General.
Fox News contributor Ben Domenech weighs in on Matt Gaetz and commits a brutal murder. pic.twitter.com/ImGKUWKYs6
— i/o (@eyeslasho) November 14, 2024
Photos courtesy of YouTube thumbnails, Cover Images.
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- United States Representative Matt Gaetz (Republican of Florida) questions United States Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III during a House Committee on Armed Services hearing “A review of Defense Secretary Austin’s unannounced absence” in the Rayburn House Office Building. Featuring: Matt Gaetz Where: Washington, District of Columbia, United States When: 29 Feb 2024 Credit: CNP/INSTARimages
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- United States Representative Matt Gaetz (Republican of Florida) questions Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Director Steven Dettelbach appears before a House Committee on the Judiciary hearing “Oversight of the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives” in the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, DC Featuring: Matt Gaetz Where: Washington, District of Columbia, United States When: 23 May 2024 Credit: CNP/INSTARimages
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- United States Representative Matt Gaetz (Republican of Florida) speaks to press at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin at the Fiserv Forum Featuring: United States Representative Matt Gaetz (Republican of Florida) Where: Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States Credit: CNP/INSTARimages
Well now we know he’s certainly qualified.
He passes that bar
But man the eyebrows scare me so bad
It looks like that man had done God awful plastic surgery done. It’s hard to believe he is only on his 40s….
Wow. Give Ben a Pulitzer!
Domenech and Gaetz went to the same university for different programs (same as me for the record), and the school tried to revoke Gaetz’s diploma when all this originally broke. Our alumni groups HATED learning Gaetz was one of ours, though no one seems to remember him as a student.
William and Mary? Because there are some tales about Matt from undergrad (where we overlapped), and I remember him as a high school freshman at debate tournaments in the panhandle. ::shudder::
Please Ben “Mr My Father” Domenech knew full well what he’s been supporting in Trump and what kind of vile appointments Trump would make. I’m not praising him for being honest (for once) about what a dirtbag Gaetz is.
Yeah, TFG has not hidden his intentions, and he’s essentially put Republiscums on notice that they can bow down and kiss his ring, or Trump will go after them. Annointing Gaetz, someone (else) who is so egregiously unfit, is Trump going all-out aggressive. He doesn’t want the (weak) guardrails that were in place last time. He rewards loyalty and punishes dissent. He’s telling Congress that he will fight if they make his life difficult. And if not Gaetz, then someone else of that caliber. This is truly horrifying!
I live in a country where the far right party won the most votes, and the only good thing about s parliamentary system is that the dude has a bit less power than Trump to fc*k things up at the moment. These batsh!t crazy nominations of Trump’s are a huge warning that he’s rewarding loyalty and going after his enemies…Joe Biden needs to break out his pen right now and make sure that he, Kamala Harris, and all the other Democrats are (pre) pardoned and safer from this Orange A-hole! Trump is absolutely going full dictator.
Please keep your big neighbor to the east in your thoughts that we will be spared the same fate, a right-wing/fascist majority, in next February’s snap elections.
That said, apparently there are people digging through the back history of how Nelson came into MG’s life and ended up being adopted by him, while people ate wondering whether MG’s appointment will mean a comeback of Madison Cawthorn.
And there will be more women coming forward eventually.
I hope Wanderwitz (spelling?) succeeds in his quest to ban the AfD! The government falling was a nasty surprise too close to the American election.
I think the AfD will be banned eventually, just not in time for the next elections.
And the government was doomed to fail from the start. The FDP wanted out as soon as they got in, and tried to torpedo everything.
That said, with Hegseth as potential SecDef, we will need a strong EU *and* a strong Rest of the NATO to defeat Russia.
That tweet certainly says it all. But the thing is, how is Gaetz worse than Trump? The Republicans in the Senate now have to choose between their disgust with Gaetz and their fealty to Donald Trump which is always airtight. I think I know how this will turn out. Now I’m just waiting to see what cabinet post Mark Robinson will get. 🤔
That’s the thing. Cheeto was best friends with Epstein and there is no way he wasn’t involved with trafficked underage girls himself.
Just like Gabbard being a Russian asset… doesn’t matter when Cheeto is one himself.
Buddy Pine looking motherfcker
…Eddie Muster looking ass…
The real question is, do the people who voted for Trump actually care? You vote for a criminal, he’s going to appoint criminals. Are they ok with this farce? I am not brave enough to bring this up with my family who voted for him.
The don’t care, which is really odd because they are all seem to be really concerned about sex trafficking and say trumps going to put an end to it when in reality he’s a pervert and he hangs out with perverts. It’s really odd
I have a theory because they love to call everyone else rapists. Rape is not the issue. Never has been. They see women’s bodies as their property. But no one else has a right to those bodies. That’s theft of their property.
I watched a recent clip from the Daily Show last night. They showed clips of MAGAt white men talking about Trump and they literally said they WANT a dictatorship. They don’t care. Whatever prevents them from feeling that their white patriarchy is being threatened. My favorite was a guy who said he wants there to be a dictatorship “for the next 4 years.” LOL – he thinks a dictatorship is only going to last for 4 years.
I heard that while phone banking. If these people were even remotely literate, I’d recommend reading House of Spirits. Find out what happens to the people who think a dictatorship will benefit them. I mean it’s basically a true story so they could also just learn history. 🤷🏻♀️
They don’t, because they pick and choose what they want to believe. I’ve said before that I live in a red county in a blue state, and my county is pretty big and divided – the southern part, where I am, is pretty blue-purple (the red is usually the people who grew up here, the blue is the people who couldn’t afford neighboring counties and moved here instead so they bring the Dem politics with them so it makes for an interesting environment where there is a lot of “soooo…..how are you doing this week…..” as we try to ferret out where others stand.)
ANYWAY. I’m in a few mom groups on FB and basically what I can glean from the people who voted for him is that they don’t believe anything that is bad about him. One person actually said “no one who voted for trump wants bad things to happen to black or brown people in this country.” Ummm do you know what he has said about POC? Or they’ll say things like “he’s only a felon if you only listen to the LIBERAL MEDIA.”
The liberal media doesn’t say he’s a convicted felon, the courts do. And I imagine that trickles down to all the people he’s appointing. They just have convinced themselves that everything bad about him is just made up propaganda.
The cult mentality is scary.
The Attorney General is not onlynthe chief law enforcement officier of the US, he/she is a member of the Cabinet and seventh in the line of succession to the US presidency. All this could been avoided if the GOP showed some spine and stood up to Donald Trump, especially in the wake of January 6. Trump’s crazy nominations is his twisted way to show everyone he has the Senate, the upper chamber of the legislature, in an chokehold.
I always thought this man had bad Botox, not I’m thinking it’s a horrible thread lift. As for all that other stuff, ya every one has known especially his supporters, sadly rape of a minor or any woman means nothing anymore.
It is absolutely amazing to me that “smart” people who voted for Trump are up in arms over these insane picks. They didn’t see it coming? What did they think? If it weren’t so tragic, it would be laughable.
Gaetz resigned from the current congress. He was elected to serve in the next Congress so the whole resigning BS is absolutely BS.
Remember when they were accusing dems of being pedophiles? Amazing how everything they’ve accused dems of doing turns out was actually happening in their party? Wonder where they get the ideas…
Projection, thy name is MAGA.
For once, I’m thankful that John Cornyn is my senator. I’m calling him today to tell him I don’t think Gaetz or FRK Jr. are qualified for these positions.
All Trump cares about is that Gaetz will say yes when he directs him to prosecute Adam Schiff and his other so-called “enemies within.”
This is going to be a nightmare.
Saw my friend today-huge Trump fan. I asked what my neighbor meant when she posted honor the flag, pray to the cross (this neighbor day after the election went around the neighborhood with an American blanket around her shouting this is her country I have been told). My friend told me it is because Trump is so religious. He will only bring the best for us and his cabinet will be like him. Lord help us all!!!
Trump’s religiousness extends to him having his photo taken whilst holding an upside-down Bible. Did Russia put something in our water? How are this many people this stupid and delusional?
And if Jeffrey Epstein were still alive, Trump would have nominated him for a cabinet position.
It’s like he went to a plastic surgeon and said, make me look like that face Jack Nicholson makes in The Shining just before he tries to chop his family up with an axe. It’s horrifying.
I think Gaetz will be confirmed, but I think it could get messy mainly bc I don’t think the republican establishment likes him. That’s where they draw the line – its not policies or whatever, its more about personality or behavior or something, IDK. The republican establishment doesn’t like Gaetz both for political and personal reasons and that will be his weak spot.
I think he’ll get confirmed, but I think there may be some bumps in the road for him.
I think he won’t and will be the sacrificial lamb for the other not as awful picks to go through. One of the GOP senators already asked for the ethics committee report.
With Gaetz as AG, I guarantee Puff Daddy’s going free. No way Gaetz didn’t attend at least of few of the Miami freak-offs.
Well this all tracks. America is now governed by white men who are sex offenders and/or oligarchs. Disgusted and embarrassed that this is my country. I hate it here.
I’ve been waiting to use this Star Wars quote because it’s the first thing I thought of when the subject of potential cabinet appointments started rolling out: “You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy “ – Obi Wan Kenobi.
This from the bunch that wants the ten commandments plastered everywhere. Just a disgusting nest of evil from the top to the bottom.
I just read an opinion piece in USA Today that said, “Matt Gaetz, an ethically challenged forehead that became a real boy, for attorney general” and I cant stop laughing. This is what the GOP wanted and deserves. Let ‘er rip. I want them to have to own every part of this.
Honestly it just sounds like Trump is making all of these wildly offensive appointments to see which senators are truly loyal to him and then purge the ones who are not.