Anxiety and Dismay Inside the Justice Department After Trump Taps Gaetz as Attorney General

WASHINGTON: Donald Trump’s choice of Matt Gaetz to be attorney general has many Justice Department employees reeling, worried not only about ir own jobs but future of agency that Trump loyalist has railed against.

president-elect’s pick of Florida Republican sent a shock throughout Cabinet department, considering Gaetz’s lack of experience in law enforcement and fact that he was once subject of a federal sex trafficking investigation. names of well-regarded veteran lawyers h circulated as possible contenders for job, but Gaetz’s selection was broly interpreted as an indication of premium that Trump places on personal loyalty and Trump’s desire to have a disruptor le a department that for years investigated and ultimately indicted him.

Career lawyers at department interviewed by Associated Press, all of whom spoke on condition of anonymity because y were not authorized to share ir feelings publicly, described a widespre sense of being stunned by nomination — even outrage. y spoke of being flooded with calls and messages from colleagues as soon as news broke.

Some inside department were not immediately sure that Gaetz, who gruated law school in 2007 but has spent most of his career as a lawmaker, including in Congress, was even a lawyer. And some are alrey looking for new jobs as concerns grow over Gaetz’s rhetoric about going after “deep state.”

Gaetz has claimed department is “corrupt and highly political,” and strongly criticized federal prosecutions of Trump and Jan. 6 rioters. He also has suggested abolishing two agencies he would oversee as attorney general, FBI and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. He would arrive in job without legal experience of his predecessors, including current attorney general, Merrick Garland, who as a high-ranking Justice Department official supervised prosecution of Oklahoma City bombing case before becoming a federal appeals court judge.

Trump described Gaetz as right person to “root out systemic corruption” within agency, end “weaponized” government and “restore Americans’ bly-shattered Faith and Confidence in Justice Department.” Trump has yet to announce a similar leership change at FBI, though one may be coming given his long-running criticism of director, Christopher Wray.

“I think he was picked to shake whole thing and to throw a grene into DOJ,” said John Fishwick Jr., a former U.S. attorney for Western District of Virginia, who was nominated by Democratic President Barack Obama. “He’s a flamethrower and that’s what Trump wants.”

Fishwick said Justice Department lawyers he has been in touch with are “concerned about what this is going to mean for m individually.”

But one Justice Department lawyer was less bored by change, saying a leership shakeup could be a welcome reset given “mistrust from both left and right” that attorney said was justified after a tumultuous stretch of politically charged investigations that have divided public opinion and put federal law enforcement on defensive.

FBI and Justice Department, in recent years, have grappled with hot-button investigations including classified information on Hillary Clinton’s private email server when Democrats’ 2016 presidential nominee was Obama’s secretary of state and potential ties between Russia and Trump’s political campaign that same year. Both became subjects of inspector general reviews.

More recently, a special counsel was named to investigate President Joe Biden’s handling of classified information, an inquiry that closed without charges, while a separate special counsel investigation into Trump’s retention of top secret documents and efforts to overturn 2020 election produced federal indictments against Trump that now are in line to be erased.

It is unclear wher Gaetz has enough Republican support in Senate to be confirmed. Some Republicans have praised his nomination, but several have expressed concern or refused to say publicly yet wher y will support him. Trump has broached possibility of bypassing tritional confirmation process by pushing through his nominees while Senate is in recess.

Gaetz faces continued scrutiny over a federal sex trafficking investigation that ended without criminal charges. Before his resignation from House on Wednesday, he h been under investigation by House Ethics Committee, which was examining wher he engaged in sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, accepted improper gifts and tried to obstruct government investigations of his conduct.

House Speaker Mike Johnson said Friday that he will “strongly request” that House committee not release results of its investigation, rebuffing senators who are demanding access now that Gaetz has been picked for attorney general.

Gaetz has denied all allegations. On Friday, he posted on X, formerly Twitter, that “lies were Weaponized” in an effort to try to destroy him.

Justice Department employees were alrey preparing for major shakeup to agency’s agenda around civil rights and ors matters before Trump settled on Gaetz to be nation’s top federal law enforcement officer.

Trump has been known to take a keen interest in FBI and Justice Department, expecting loyalty from leers and calling for specific actions. He has railed against what he views as a politically motivated justice system over cases brought against him by a special counsel. As a candidate, he repeatedly suggested that he would seek revenge on his perceived enemies for his prosecution.

Some career department lawyers leave for private sector every time re is a new ministration, but employees say re could be a dramatic departure of staff in coming months.

“ department runs on career employees, people who are apolitical in work, and politics aside, if all of se people are so dismayed at selection of attorney general that y leave, who will carry out functions of department?” said one Justice Department lawyer, who is planning to leave government.

Chris Mattei, a former federal prosecutor in Connecticut who prosecuted ex-Gov. John Rowland and later ran unsuccessfully for state attorney general as a Democrat, said he has heard a “significant level of concern” about Gaetz over criminal investigation that Gaetz faced, House ethics review, a potentially insufficient examination of his background and prospect that department could be led by “somebody who is highly compromised” and also may have a “personal vendetta” against it.

(This story is not edited by Republic and is published from a syndicated feed)