Matt Gaetz nomination draws criticism – and evasion
Donald Trump’s nomination of Matt Gaetz for attorney general has sparked outrage and shock.
“This guy has been on the run from the law for quite some time now, so he’ll think he’s above it. He’ll be corrupt as hell,” said Olivia Troye, a former official in the Department of Homeland Security during the Trump administration who has become an outspoken critic of the former president.
Robert Weissman, the co-president of the watchdog group Public Citizen said it was “hard to imagine a worse and more unqualified candidate” than Gaetz.
“As a member of Congress, Gaetz has demonstrated contempt for the rule of law, truth and decency. He is singularly unqualified to lead an agency that enforces civil rights laws and environmental protection statutes. Under Gaetz, we’d have every reason to expect an America where corporate criminals walk free but immigrants and people of color are harassed or rounded up with minimal pretext,” he said in a statement.
Meanwhile, Republicans in the Senate have been evading questions from reporters about whether they found Gaetz to be qualified and whether they would approve his nomination.
Thom Tillis, a Republican senator of North Carolina, told Politico’s Burgess Everett: “I’m all about counting votes, and I would think that he’s probably got some work cut out for him.”
Key events
The vice-president elect, JD Vance, has dismissed widespread concerns about Trump’s selection of Matt Gaetz as attorney general, saying in a post on X:
The main issue with Matt Gaetz is that he used his office to prosecute his political opponents and authorized federal agents to harass parents who were peacefully protesting at school board meetings.
Oh wait, that’s actually Merrick Garland, the current attorney general.
Until he resigned moments ago, Gaetz was under investigation by a House ethics committee over allegations of “engaged in sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, accepted improper gifts, dispensed special privileges and favors to individuals with whom he had a personal relationship, and sought to obstruct government investigations of his conduct.” He has denied all wrongdoing.
Garland was criticised by Republicans over a memo he issued in 2021, in which he raised concerns about a “disturbing spike in harassment, intimidation, and threats of violence” at schools, sparking false claims by Republicans that Garland had accused parents of “domestic terrorism”.
House foreign affairs chair Michael McCaul confirms he was detained at airport
Republican representative Michael McCaul, the chairman of the House foreign affairs committee, has confirmed reports that he was detained by police at an airport near Washington, DC earlier this month, the Associated Press reports. The news wire writes:
McCaul said he became “disoriented” at Dulles International Airport after he took medication and drank alcohol before his scheduled flight back home to Texas.
“Two weekends ago, I made a mistake – one for which I take full responsibility. I missed a flight to Texas and found myself disoriented in the airport. This was the result of a poor decision I made to mix an Ambien – which I took in order to sleep on the upcoming flight – with some alcohol,” McCaul said in a statement.
“Law enforcement officers briefly detained me while I waited for a family member to pick me up. I have nothing but respect and gratitude for the officers who intercepted me that evening. This incident does not reflect who I am and who I strive to be. As a human, I am not perfect. But I am determined to learn from this mistake and, God-willing, make myself a better person.”
McCaul was reelected this month to an 11th term in his district that runs from Austin to the Houston suburbs.
Photograph: Carolyn Kaster/AP
Adam Gabbatt
US government employees have been injured by UFOs and the US government has conducted a secret UFO retrieval program, a former department of defense official told a congressional committee on Wednesday, though the hearing lacked any direct evidence to back up the startling claims.
The hearing on unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP), which has become the more accepted term for UFO, also heard that the government has a “huge amount” of secret information on UAPs, including “photos, video, photos, other information”. But it also learned, following a query from Colorado congresswoman Lauren Boebert, that there is no evidence of aliens having a secret underwater “base” on this planet.
The hearing came more than a year after the Pentagon was accused of running a secret UFO retrieval program by whistleblower David Grusch, though no physical evidence has also ever emerged to back up these claims.
The lack of concrete proof has been a consistent thorn in the side of those who believe the government is harboring UAPs, with Wednesday’s hearing again focussing on testimony from people who said they were aware of secret government programs, rather than witnesses presenting actual hard evidence.
Read on below:
Matt Gaetz has resigned from Congress after Donald Trump nominated him for the post of attorney general, the Associated Press is reporting, ending a bipartisan House ethics probe into him that was launched in June over longstanding allegations of sexual misconduct, illicit drug use and other alleged ethical breaches.
A few more reactions to Trump’s selection of Matt Gaetz to be attorney general have also been coming in, with one Republican representative, Mike Simpson, reportedly responding “Are you sh—ing me?” when asked whether he had the right character for the role.
Another Republican representative, Max Miller, called the selection “silly,” according to NBC, adding:
I believe that the president is probably rewarding him for being such a loyal soldier to the president. But the president is smart enough, and his team is smart enough to know that Mr Gaetz will never get confirmed by the Senate whatsoever.
Hakeem Jeffries acknowledges Democrats ‘will not regain control’ of House
Hakeem Jeffries, House Democratic minority leader, has acknowledged that “we will not regain control of the Congress in January”.
In a statement, he said House Democrats had “overperformed the national political environment” and praised them for running “aggressive, forward-looking and people-centered campaigns.”
He also said Democrats would “continue to seek bipartisan common ground on any issue … while pushing back on far right extremism whenever necessary.”
Associated Press has yet to make an official call on the House, where the Republicans are one seat short of a majority with 11 races yet to be officially called.
Pentagon stunned by Trump defence secretary pick Pete Hegseth
Julian Borger
The Pentagon has been stunned by Donald Trump’s pick for defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, a national guard veteran and Fox News presenter who has called for a purge of generals for pursuing “woke” diversity policies.
Hegseth has questioned whether the chair of the joint chiefs of staff, Gen Charles Brown, was given the top job because he is black and accused him of “pursuing the radical positions of leftwing politicians”.
Hegseth was a major in the Minnesota national guard who served as a prison guard at Guantánamo Bay detention camp and served in Iraq and Afghanistan before becoming an outspoken rightwing critic of the military.
He has argued for faster provision of more US weapons to Ukraine for its defence against Russia, but also called US Nato membership into question. His nomination is also a boost for the far right in Israel, as he has shown support for territorial expansion and suggested that Jews could build a new temple on the sacred compound around al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem, known to Jews as the Temple Mount.
Hegseth told an audience in Jerusalem in 2018: “There’s no reason why the miracle of the re-establishment of the temple on the Temple Mount is not possible.”
Read on below:
The head of the Centers for Disease Control Prevention, Dr Mandy Cohen has voiced concerns about the potential role of Robert F Kennedy Jr in a Trump administration, saying he could use it to spread misinformation.
Trump has said he wants Kennedy, a vaccine-sceptic and opponent of the fluoridization of drinking water, to “take care of health” in his second administration.
In an interview with the New York Times, Cohen said that even if Kennedy was not appointed to a high-level position, he appears likely to have some role at the White House and in that case would “have a lot of influence in things”. She added:
Even without changing one regulation or one piece of guidance, the sharing of misinformation from a place of power is concerning.
She also said she hoped “we can all have a conversation with scientists who work on fluoride” to “make sure we’re all looking at the same set of data and evidence.”
Mike Johnson wins Republican nomination to stay on as House Speaker
House Speaker Mike Johnson has won the House Republican nomination to stay on the job, on track to keep the gavel after a morning endorsement from President-elect Donald Trump ahead of a full House vote in the new year the Associated Press reports.
While Johnson has no serious challenger, he faces dissent within his ranks, particularly from hard-right conservatives and the Freedom Caucus withholding their votes as leverage to extract promises ahead.
Trump told House Republicans, during the president-elect’s first trip back to Washington since the party swept the 2024 election, that he’s with the speaker all the way, according to a person familiar with the remarks but unauthorized to discuss the private meeting near the Capitol.
Johnson heaped praise on Trump, calling him the “comeback king”.
Senator Tammy Duckworth, one of the first women to fly combat missions in Iraq, has condemned Trump’s choice of Fox News presenter Pete Hegseth for next secretary of defence, calling him “dangerously unqualified” and called on her Republican colleagues to oppose the nomination. In a statement, she said:
This pick is dangerous, plain and simple. Being Secretary of Defense is a very serious job, and putting someone as dangerously unqualified as Pete Hegseth into that role is something that should scare all of us.
By choosing to put a TV personality with little experience running much of anything in charge of the Defense Department’s almost 3 million troops and civilian employees, Donald Trump is once again proving he cares more about his MAGA base than keeping our nation safe—and our troops, our military families and our national security will pay the price.
Our troops and our country deserve better. In this moment, my Republican colleagues must recognize the danger that confirming a wholly unqualified Secretary of Defense nominee would put our country in, stop rolling over for Donald Trump and oppose this nomination.
Unofficial results in Pennsylvania Senate seat trigger recount, official says
The unofficial results in the race for the US Senate seat in Pennsylvania have triggered a legally required statewide recount, commonwealth secretary Al Schmidt has said.
Democratic Senator Bob Casey and Republican Dave McCormick have vote totals within the one-half of 1% margin that triggers a mandatory recount under state law, Schmidt said in a statement.
As of Wednesday, McCormick led by about 28,000 votes out of more than 6.9 million ballots counted.
Counties must begin the recount no later than November 20 and must finish by noon on November 26. It largely involves running paper ballots through high-speed scanners, a process that former election officials say might not change the outcome by more than a few hundred votes.
“It is an infinitesimal number, compared to the overall vote totals,” said Jeff Greenberg, a former Mercer County elections director.
Moderate Republican senator Lisa Murkowski calls Gaetz an unserious choice
Lisa Murkowski, a moderate Republican of Alaska, was open about her views on Matt Gaetz’s nomination.
“We need a serious attorney general. I’m looking forward to the opportunity to consider somebody that is serious,” she told reporters. “This one was not on my bingo card.”
The New York Times also quoted her as adding: “I think it is really important that we don’t roll over on that role of advise and consent and we move through the nomination process.
“If we get good candidates, we will be able to move through the nominations process, hopefully, really readily and that’ll be good for the president, good for him to get his team. But when you put forward picks that are really going to generate controversy, and not just controversy on one side of the aisle, it is going to take longer.”
Today so far
Donald Trump has been busy planning for his presidency, continuing to nominate a cadre of loyalists with few relevant qualifications to key posts. He named the former Democratic congresswoman and Trump campaign surrogate Tulsi Gabbard as his nominee for director of national intelligence, raising eyebrows given Gabbard’s choice to meet Syrian president Bashar al-Assad her skepticism about well-documented atrocities during the country’s civil war.
He also named Matt Gaetz, who has protested election results along side far-right Proud Boys and is facing an ethics investigation over allegations he engaged in sex trafficking and had sex with a 17-year-old girl.
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Trump has officially named Florida senator Marco Rubio as his nominee for secretary of state. News of the choice filtered out over the past day or so, but Trump had not made it official, until today.
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Joe Biden met Trump at the White House, extending a courtesy to the president-elect and avowed political adversary that the Republican did not reciprocate in 2020, when refused to acknowledge Biden’s election victory.
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Before heading to the White House, the president-elect stopped by a meeting of House Republicans, who appear on course to preserve their majority, where he joked about seeking a third term. The constitution prohibits that, since he already served one term in the White House.
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Republican senators chose South Dakota’s John Thune as their new leader, replacing long-serving Mitch McConnell, who opted not to stand again for the job.
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Jack Smith will reportedly wind down his two prosecutions of Trump, one concerning the 2020 election and the other the classified documents found at his properties, and resign before the inauguration. The president-elect has vowed to fire Smith upon taking office, and justice department policy also prohibits the prosecution of sitting presidents.
Matt Gaetz nomination draws criticism – and evasion
Donald Trump’s nomination of Matt Gaetz for attorney general has sparked outrage and shock.
“This guy has been on the run from the law for quite some time now, so he’ll think he’s above it. He’ll be corrupt as hell,” said Olivia Troye, a former official in the Department of Homeland Security during the Trump administration who has become an outspoken critic of the former president.
Robert Weissman, the co-president of the watchdog group Public Citizen said it was “hard to imagine a worse and more unqualified candidate” than Gaetz.
“As a member of Congress, Gaetz has demonstrated contempt for the rule of law, truth and decency. He is singularly unqualified to lead an agency that enforces civil rights laws and environmental protection statutes. Under Gaetz, we’d have every reason to expect an America where corporate criminals walk free but immigrants and people of color are harassed or rounded up with minimal pretext,” he said in a statement.
Meanwhile, Republicans in the Senate have been evading questions from reporters about whether they found Gaetz to be qualified and whether they would approve his nomination.
Thom Tillis, a Republican senator of North Carolina, told Politico’s Burgess Everett: “I’m all about counting votes, and I would think that he’s probably got some work cut out for him.”
Thomas Massie, a Republican congressman of Kentucky, had an interesting response to reporters asking him what he made of the Matt Gaetz nomination: “Recess appointments.”
Despite coming into office with a Republican Senate full of supporters, Donald Trump has been pushing for “recess appointments” to give himself even more authority to pick whomever he wants to fill cabinet positions.
Normally, the Senate approves presidential nominations for high-level posts, but the the constitution allows the president to install officials without Senate approval while Congress is not in session.
In recent years, the Senate has avoided going on extended recesses to block the president from making such appointments. Neither Trump nor Joe Biden used recesses to make appointments during their terms, in part because the practice of using the loophole to make appointments was curtailed following a supreme court ruling that Obama overstepped his power in making recess nominations.
Trump wants the practice reinstated. Amid the race to replace Mitch McConnell as Senate leader, however, Trump posted on X: “Any Republican senator seeking the coveted LEADERSHIP position in the United States Senate must agree to Recess Appointments (in the Senate!)”
If Trump is able to bring back recess appointments, then Gaetz becomes attorney general, Massie told reporters. “He’s the attorney general. Suck it up.”
Donald Trump will be taking office with a Republican Senate, one filled with allies who appear ready to enable him fully.
Though it remains unclear if Matt Gaetz will receive a Senate confirmation, it’s clear that some of Gaetz’s one-time critics are ready to back Trump’s nominees.
Oklahoma congressman Markwayne Mullin has previously accused Gaetz of sharing videos of girls he slept with on the House floor. He told CNN last year that Gaetz would “brag about how he would crush ED medicine and chase it with an energy drink so he could go all night”.
On CNN just now, he said: “I completely trust President Trump’s decision making on this one.”
Mullin admitted that Gaetz is likely to face tough questions at his hearing. “Hopefully he’s able to answer the questions right, and if he can then we’ll go through the confirmation process.”
Mullin himself has been floated as an option for Interior secretary or secretary of Veterans Affairs.
Moderate Republican senator Susan Collins ‘shocked’ by Gaetz appointment
Susan Collins, the moderate Republican senator of Maine told reporters she was “shocked” but the Matt Gaetz nomination.
“I was shocked by the announcement – that shows why the advise-and-consent process is so important,” Collins said. “I’m sure that there will be a lot of questions raised at his hearing.”
Matt Gaetz has been one of the most loyal backers of Donald Trump in Congress, supporting Trump’s attempts to deny the results of the 2020 election.
He voted with about 150 Republicans to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
Along with members of the far-right group the Proud Boys, he took part in protests against the result of a Senate race in Florida.
He also evoked language adopted by the Proud Boys at Trump’s hush money trial earlier this year, posting on social media: “Standing back, and standing by, Mr President”, along with a photo of him with Trump and other congressional Republicans.
Capitol Hill reporters are gathering shocked and evasive responses from Republicans reacting to the Gaetz nomination.
Senator Chuck Grassley stopped talking to reporters when asked for his reaction.
House appropriations chair Tom Cole avoided responding as well: “I know nothing about it.”
Senator Ron Johnson: “The president gets to pick his nominees.”
Attorney general-nominee Gaetz remains under ethics committee investigation over sexual misconduct
Matt Gaetz, the Florida congressman who Donald Trump just nominated to be his attorney general, has for years faced allegations of sexual misconduct.
Last year, Gaetz said the justice department had closed an investigation that began after allegations emerged of the congressman having sex with a 17-year-old girl and paying for her travel. The House ethics committee earlier this year announced that it was beginning its own inquiry into whether Gaetz “engaged in sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, accepted improper gifts, dispensed special privileges and favours to individuals with whom he had a personal relationship, and sought to obstruct government investigations of his conduct”.
That investigation has not yet been publicly concluded. Here’s more about it:
