President-elect Donald Trump has chosen bomb-throwing Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz as attorney general.
If confirmed by the GOP-controlled Senate, Trump will elevate the Florida Republican to perhaps the most important Cabinet post in the next Trump administration. The attorney general will be tasked with defending a plethora of controversial Trump policies — from immigration crackdowns to anti-abortion initiatives — that are sure to lead to legal challenges.
Trump has also promised to use the Justice Department against his political enemies. And the next attorney general may have a first order of business that is deeply personal to Trump: ending the two federal criminal cases against him.
Trump’s choice of Gaetz elevates one of his most outspoken and polarizing defenders, one who has sown hostility even among his Republican colleagues while remaining fiercely loyal to Trump. Gaetz is in the midst of a House Ethics Committee investigation into sex trafficking allegations, but a Justice Department investigation into similar issues concluded without criminal charges.
