President-elect Donald Trump announced Wednesday that he would nominate Florida Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz attorney general.
“Matt is a deeply gifted and tenacious attorney, trained at the William & Mary College of Law, who has distinguished himself in Congress through his focus on achieving desperately needed reform at the Department of Justice,” Trump said in a statement on Truth Social.
“Few issues in America are more important than ending the partisan Weaponization of our Justice System,” the president-elect added. “Matt will end Weaponized Government, protect our Borders, dismantle Criminal Organizations and restore Americans’ badly-shattered Faith and Confidence in the Justice Department.”
Trump praised Gaetz for playing “a key role in defeating the Russia, Russia, Russia Hoax” on the House Judiciary Committee and for “exposing alarming and systemic Government Corruption and Weaponization.”
Gaetz has represented Florida’s 1st Congressional District since 2017. Before that, he served in the Florida House of Representatives from 2010 until 2016.
The congressman serves on the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government under Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio.
The Department of Justice investigated him for alleged sex trafficking, but ultimately declined to charge him.
Gaetz filed a motion to vacate the chair in October 2023, which led to the removal of Kevin McCarthy as speaker of the House of Representatives.