“President Trump is going to hit the Justice Department with a blowtorch, and Matt Gaetz is that torch,” Steve Bannon, Trump’s former White House strategist, told NBC News.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, said she didn't think Gaetz was "a serious nomination for the attorney general."
From bitter experience, Trump knows that he needs an attorney general he can trust implicitly, and it might be worth the political capital to battle for Gaetz's confirmation.
Little happened in Trump’s first term that angered him as much as Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ decision to recuse himself and appoint a special counsel to investigate whether there were links between his 2016 campaign and Russia.
In Gaetz, Trump would get an attorney general who has said Trump won the election that year, as well as an iconoclast who shares his willingness to upset the status quo.
Persons:
Donald Trump, Trump, Matt Gaetz, Steve Bannon, Trump’s, Pete Hegseth, Tulsi Gabbard, Tom Homan, Kristi Noem, Mount Rushmore, James Mattis, Mattis, John Kelly, Kelly, who'd, Hegseth, Donald J, ”, Max Stier, Gaetz, Kamala Harris, Sen, Lisa Murkowski, Kevin Cramer, Jeff Sessions, I’m, ” Trump, Robert Mueller, William Barr
Organizations:
WASHINGTON, Justice Department, Defense, Justice, White, Department, White House, NBC News, Fox News, Democrat, Trump, South Dakota Gov, National Guard, Partnership for Public Service, Senate, Republicans, FBI, CDC, ATF, DOJ, NBC, Washington
Locations:
Afghanistan, Iraq, Alaska, Russia