Republicans Who Voted for Merrick Garland as AG Complain About Matt Gaetz, Trump’s Choice
Christina Lewis /
Some of the 20 Senate Republicans who voted to confirm President Joe Biden’s pick of Merrick Garland for attorney general already are shaking their heads at President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee as the nation’s top law enforcer.
Several of those GOP senators have spoken out against Trump’s choice last week of Matt Gaetz for attorney general. Others of the 20 Senate Republicans who backed Garland may follow in criticizing Gaetz as his nomination proceeds.
Gaetz, a Republican, represented a Florida district in the U.S. House for over seven years before resigning Wednesday shortly after being tapped publicly by Trump to lead the Justice Department.
The 20 Republican senators who voted in 2021 to confirm Garland as attorney general are, in alphabetical order, Roy Blunt of Missouri, Richard Burr of North Carolina, Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Susan Collins of Maine, John Cornyn of Texas, Joni Ernst of Iowa, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Chuck Grassley of Iowa, Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, James Lankford of Oklahoma, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Jerry Moran of Kansas, Lisa Murkowski of Arkansas, Rob Portman of Ohio, Mitt Romney of Utah, Mike Rounds of South Dakota, John Thune of South Dakota, and Thom Tillis of North Carolina.
Some of these Republican senators have expressed discontent and uncertainty with Trump’s choice of Gaetz for attorney general, although they voted less than four years ago to confirm Garland to fill the same role for Biden, a staunch Democrat.
Thune and Cornyn were just in a three-way race with Sen. Rick Scott of Florida to lead the GOP conference as Senate majority leader next year. Thune won.
Thune told The Hill that he is unsure whether Gaetz, who last year almost singlehandedly toppled House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., will make it through the Senate confirmation process.
“I don’t know [how Gaetz will do] until we start the process, and that’s what we intend to do with him and all the other potential nominees,” Thune told reporters Thursday, according to The Hill, adding that senators “expect our committees to do their jobs and provide the advice and consent that is required under the Constitution.”
On Jan. 3, as a result of the Nov. 5 election, Thune and the Republicans will gain control of the Senate over Democrats, 53-47.
Even so, Gaetz, who many senators regarded as a conservative gadfly in the House, has a tough fight ahead of him to become attorney general in the second Trump administration.
Assuming all 45 Democrats and two independents who caucus with Democrats vote “nay” on Gaetz, the former congressman can lose the votes of only four Republican senators and still be confirmed. (Vice President JD Vance may cast any tie-breaking votes in the Senate after he is sworn in Jan. 20.)
Collins told reporters that she was shocked by Trump’s pick of Gaetz, Politico reported.
“Obviously, the president has the right to nominate whomever he wishes,” Collins told the reporters. “But this is why the Senate’s advise and consent process is so important. I’m sure that there will be many, many questions raised at Mr. Gaetz’s hearing, if in fact the nomination goes forward.”
Tillis also voiced his opinion.
“I have very few skills, [but] vote counting is one and I think he’s got a lot of work to get 50,” he said of Gaetz.
Alaska’s Murkowski also expressed doubts, Politico reported.
“I don’t think it’s a serious nomination for the attorney general. … I’m looking forward to the opportunity to consider somebody that is serious,” Murkowski said. “This one was not on my bingo card.”
Capito told WTRF-TV in West Virginia that she believes Trump’s Nov. 5 win was a mandate from voters for change.
“I’m not surprised that he has appointed somebody to shake it up the way that he would like to,” Capito said of Trump, Gaetz, and the Justice Department, “but I would remind everybody that the process that we’re going forward on in terms of nominations is a grueling process and it’s very much a vetting process.”
“And so I expect that we will be doing that … probably beginning in January as this process moves forward,” Capito added.
Johnson said he would keep an “open mind” during the appointment process, The Wall Street Journal reported. Tillis told the Raleigh-based News & Observer that he cares about “a defensible resume and a really clear vetting.”
“We normally give the president the benefit of the doubt,” Rounds told The Hill, “but we still do our due diligence, and ‘advice and consent’ is still important.”
Graham told Fox News host Sean Hannity that Gaetz should be heard because he is Trump’s choice for attorney general.
“Every president deserves a chance to pick their Cabinet,” Graham said.
Garland, a former federal appeals court judge for the District of Columbia, took office as attorney general on March 11, 2021. President Barack Obama had named Garland to succeed the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, but Senate Republicans blocked that appointment until after the 2016 presidential election.
Republicans in both the House and Senate have criticized many of Garland’s actions (or lack of action) as attorney general.
After the Supreme Court’s 2022 ruling overturning Roe v. Wade and abortion on demand in the Dobbs v. Jackson decision was leaked, for example, the Justice Department declined to prosecute protesters outside the homes of conservative justices.
Garland’s Justice Department angered conservatives by prosecuting Trump, or allowing his prosecution, after he left the presidency in January 2021, while at the same time not investigating the explosive contents of a laptop abandoned by Hunter Biden, the new president’s son.
Garland also presided over his department’s pursuit and prosecution of pro-life activists.
Ken McIntyre contributed to this developing story, which will be updated.