President-elect Donald J. Trump’s nominee for U.S. Attorney General, Matt Gaetz, remains under investigation by the House Ethics Committee. However, the lurid allegations it has been examining rely on witness testimony that the Department of Justice (DOJ) previously deemed unreliable.
Gaetz had been a staunch ally of President-elect Trump throughout the lawfare campaign against him, which involves several politically motivated prosecutions brought by the Biden-Harris DOJ and Democrat state prosecutors. Gaetz’s own controversies center on sex trafficking allegations, initially stemming from Joel Greenberg. The former Seminole County tax collector’s credibility is widely questioned, not least because he is currently serving an 11-year prison sentence for various criminal offenses, including fabricating allegations against a political rival.
The DOJ ceased its investigation into Gaetz in 2022, citing credibility issues with witnesses, and the House Ethics Committee relies on the same dubious evidence. Gaetz believes the committee’s investigation was started as punishment for his ouster of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, a Republican-in-name-only (RINO) despised by the GOP base but popular among the party’s political establishment.
Announcing Gaetz’s appointment, President-elect Trump said the Floridian “will end Weaponized Government, protect our Borders, dismantle Criminal Organizations and restore Americans’ badly-shattered Faith and Confidence in the Justice Department,” citing his previous work debunking the Trump-Russia collusion hoax.