Senator-elect Adam Schiff (D-CA) argued against confirming former Rep. Matt Gaetz as President-elect Donald Trump’s attorney general, claiming his confirmation would be against why voters elected the former president.
Schiff suggested that Gaetz is “disqualified” from being attorney general, contending there are “credible allegations” of the Florida lawmaker being involved in “child sex trafficking” and having “no experience” in the Justice Department. However, Schiff argued the issue with Gaetz, along with the rest of Trump’s Cabinet nominees, is that the president-elect aims to establish that Congress “will not stand up to him with anything” should his nominees get confirmed.
NINE TIMES TRUMP ATTORNEY GENERAL NOMINEE MATT GAETZ STIRRED CONTROVERSY IN CONGRESS
“And if the Senate should decide to confirm without seeing this Ethics report or to allow recess appointments, essentially, the Senate is saying, ‘We’re going to abdicate our responsibility for advice and consent,’” Schiff said on CNN’s State of the Union. “This is not why people voted for Donald Trump.”
Schiff continued by arguing voters want the Trump administration to address the cost of living, arguing that this was “the central issue” he was informed of when speaking to voters during his Senate race. He added that voters did not elect Trump for his “retribution-destruction tour” that the president-elect is enacting.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has encouraged the House Ethics Committee not to release its yearslong investigation on Gaetz, suggesting that “a former member is beyond the jurisdiction” of the committee. Gaetz resigned from Congress shortly after he was nominated by Trump to serve as attorney general.
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House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) has also pushed against releasing the report to the public, as it was his “understanding” that, according to committee rules, the report was “not supposed to go public.”
Sens. Eric Schmitt (R-MO) and Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), meanwhile, have defended Gaetz’s nomination, with Schmitt saying the United States needs an attorney general who will “shake things up.” Tuberville said Gaetz is “a fighter” who is “good on his feet.”