Donald Trump has been riding high since his decisive victory over Kamala Harris, working at a breakneck pace to name loyalists for top jobs in the incoming administration while basking in the glow of victory.
Last weekend, the president-elect received a hero’s welcome from the crowd at a UFC fight in New York’s Madison Square Garden. Earlier this week, he flew to Brownsville, Texas, to watch the SpaceX Starship rocket launch with billionaire Elon Musk.
But by the end of the week, the party was over. Former congressman and Trump loyalist Matt Gaetz on Thursday evening withdrew his name from consideration for US attorney general amid allegations of sexual misconduct and growing sentiment on Capitol Hill that he will not make it through the grueling Senate confirmation process.
Gaetz’s decision to give up the president-elect was a major political setback since he won four more years in the White House, forcing him to find a replacement for the top cabinet post.
On Thursday afternoon, Trump tapped Pam Bondi, another Floridian and former attorney general of the Sunshine State, to lead the justice department. But Gaetz’s failure has enabled him to use up valuable early political capital for Trump.
In a post on X, Gaetz – who denies all allegations of wrongdoing – said the nomination was “unfairly a distraction to the critical work of the Trump/Vance nominee”. Trump later praised the former Florida lawmaker in a post on the Truth Social platform, saying conservatives have a “great future” ahead of them.
Gaetz’s quick withdrawal from consideration has left Washington speculating whether another controversial Trump pick could fail, and caused panic among some Trump allies.
Questions have been asked about whether the choice is like the nomination of defense secretary Pete Hegseth – a former Fox News host who proposed the dismissal of a top military leader and faced allegations of sexual assault – or Trump’s choice for director of national intelligence Tulsi Gabbard – a former Democratic congresswoman. who has praised the Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad and has been accused of parroting Kremlin propaganda – could face the same fate on Capitol Hill.
Hegseth has never been charged with a crime and denies all wrongdoing. But like Gaetz, he has spent this week on Capitol Hill with an aggressive push to try and drum up support from lawmakers for his nomination, accompanied by vice president-elect JD Vance.
The failure of Trump’s number one choice for attorney general to advance to the early stages of the Senate inquiry process may be the biggest blow yet to his efforts to build an inner circle that will carry out his aggressive domestic agenda.
The DoJ is central to Trump’s plan to seek “retribution” for individuals he deems wrongful — including himself. He also threatened to appoint a special prosecutor to “go after” US President Joe Biden and his family.
Many legal experts and Trump allies expect that if confirmed, Gaetz – one of Trump’s staunchest defenders and one of the most vocal critics of the DoJ under Biden – will have some qualms about taking orders from the incoming president.
Gaetz made headlines last year when he told an audience of conservative activists that he and other Trump allies would bring the DoJ and other federal agencies “to heel.”
“We can restore this government or we defund, and get rid of, eliminate . . . every last one,” he said in March 2023.
Steve Bannon, Trump’s former top adviser, earlier this month told NBC News that the president-elect “will hit the justice department with a blowtorch and Matt Gaetz is the torch”.
When he announced that Bondi would replace Gaetz as the justice department nominee, Trump suggested he was in line with his plan.
“Too long, the partisan Department of Justice has been a weapon against me and other Republicans – Not anymore. Pam will refocus the DOJ on the goals it was intended to fight crime, and Make America Safe Again,” said Trump on Truth Social, adding that he had known he was many years old and he was “America’s first fighter”.
Before Bondi was elected, Paul Butler, a professor at Georgetown Law, said that the “possible assumption” was that Trump would seek retribution and “would nominate for attorney general someone who is willing to do it”.
Bondi, who is known to be a close ally of Susie Wiles, who will serve as chief of staff in Trump’s second term, is expected to be more easily confirmed by the Senate.
Since leaving the Florida attorney general’s office in 2019, he has worked as a lobbyist at Ballard Partners, which has offices in Florida and Washington and has close ties to Trump’s inner circle.
But Bondi is no moderate: after the 2020 election, he supported Trump’s claim that the race against Biden had been rigged. He will now retrace Gaetz’s steps to Capitol Hill to lobby senators for his own confirmation in the coming days and weeks.
But even though he had an easier time than Gaetz, the drama surrounding him has provided the first opening for Democrats to attack Trump for not being able to tap his best to lead a second administration.
“Nominees who are qualified for the highest position in law enforcement in America must be honest and thorough in revealing their background. Mr. Gaetz did not meet that standard,” said Dick Durbin, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Thursday afternoon.
Additional reporting by Alex Rogers in Palm Beach
