President-elect Donald Trump has rocked the Republican-controlled Senate this week with a series of unorthodox Cabinet choices.
Senators and senators-elect barely had time to choose new leadership Wednesday, giving South Dakota Sen. John Thune the role of majority leader before that leadership was put to the test with the prospect of appointing controversial former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Florida, as the next Attorney General of the United States.
Utah Sen. Mike Lee, who was widely considered a top choice for AG, told the Deseret News in a statement that Trump’s Cabinet nominees represent the message that rode Trump to a historic victory on Nov. 5 and that they deserve to to be put in place.
“Millions of Americans have given President Trump a mandate to govern, and I look forward to quickly confirming his nominees so they can go to work for the American people,” Lee said.
The surprise selection of Gaetz — which was reportedly made within hours aboard Trump’s plane — followed announcements that Fox News host and military veteran Pete Hegseth was Trump’s pick for defense secretary, and that former Democratic congressman and military veteran Tulsi Gabbard was Trump’s choice. for director of national intelligence and that billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk was Trump’s choice to lead the government’s new Department of Efficiency.
In a statement to the Deseret News, Utah Senator-elect John Curtis said the Senate should not abandon its role in vetting nominees for top executive branch positions.
“Senator-elect Curtis believes that every president is afforded a level of respect when selecting his team and making nominations. He also strongly believes in and is committed to the Senate’s critical role to confirm or reject nominations based on information and insights from confirmation hearings,” a spokesperson for Curtis told the Deseret News.
“Curtis takes his constitutional duty to provide advice and consent seriously and his goal is to ensure that Utahns’ voices are heard. He plans to carefully examine the credentials and qualifications of any candidate President-elect Trump sends to the Senate.”
Trump’s most controversial cabinet choice?
Gaetz’s appointment to head more than 100,000 employees at the Justice Department has sparked a more varied response among lawmakers in Congress than any other Cabinet pick to date.
“Matt is not a very popular guy because he’s not really a team player,” Rep. Burgess Owens of Utah’s 4th Congressional District said of his former colleague in an interview with the Deseret News. “But for the position President Trump needs him for, he’s one of the smartest guys we have in Congress. He is undoubtedly very smart. He is very persistent. And that is what President Trump wants.”
Gaetz gained national attention in October 2023 when he spearheaded the impeachment of his party’s Speaker of the House of Representatives for the first time in American history. During his four terms in Congress, Gaetz has advocated immediate cuts in discretionary spending and touted his reliance on small-dollar donors rather than big-dollar special interests.
Before submitting his resignation Wednesday, Gaetz reported on the need to counter the weaponization of the federal government by abolishing “three-letter agencies” like the FBI, which the attorney general oversees.
Gaetz was also the subject of a House Ethics Committee investigation into alleged sexual misconduct with an underage girl, in violation of sex trafficking laws. Trump called on Gaetz to leave Congress for a Cabinet job two days before the committee was set to vote on releasing the “highly damaging” report.
Can Trump bypass Senate approval for his Cabinet picks?
Trump’s choice for AG was praised by some Republican senators, including Rand Paul of Kentucky, Vice President-elect JD Vance of Ohio and Marco Rubio of Florida, whom Trump tapped as secretary of state. But it was met with consternation by others.
News of Gaetz’s possible promotion to attorney general prompted a stunned silence for 30 seconds from Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa. Republican Senators Suzan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Thom Tillis of North Carolina also expressed skepticism, putting Gaetz’s confirmation by at least 50 of the Senate’s 53 Republicans in jeopardy.
But Trump is trying to ensure that disagreement from Republican senators does not become an obstacle to the installation of his favorite staff.
Ahead of Wednesday’s Senate leadership elections, Trump demanded that Thune and his opponents, Sen. John Cornyn of Texas and Sen. Rick Scott of Florida, commit to allowing him to use a process known as “recess appointments,” in which Cabinet officials are appointed without Senate approval. when Congress is out of session.
Each candidate expressed openness to the idea, with current Majority Leader Thune saying “all options are on the table” to quickly install Trump’s nominees. But many senators, including Curtis, have emphasized the importance of their constitutionally mandated role to provide “advice and consent” to the president’s choices to run executive agencies.
In response to reporters’ questions about Gaetz, outgoing Utah Sen. Mitt Romney said he had no comment because he will not be in the next Congress.
