Gaetz Out

Matt Gaetz, who withdrew his name from consideration as the next Attorney General of the United States today, had previously resigned from the House of Representatives. At the time, he claimed it was to facilitate the confirmation process, but of course, we knew immediately that it was to prevent the release of a bipartisan House Ethics Committee report on allegations he had used illegal drugs and had sex with a minor.

Gaetz was completely on brand, lying about momentum as Republican senators abandoned him and claiming his nomination was being treated “unfairly.” Cue the claims in another week that he was the victim of a Democratic witch hunt, but we know the truth. Gaetz, completely unqualified and credibly accused of the same kind of conduct the Justice Department prosecutes, was rejected by members of his own party. Even they couldn’t stomach Gaetz in the role of the Attorney General.

What’s up next for Gaetz? He was reelected to the House and could return in January. He said he didn’t intend to return when he resigned, but that seemed to be conditioned on the AG position, and, in any event, consistency has never been a virtue for Gaetz. But that would mean that release of the ethics report would become a live issue again. Maybe Gaetz brazens it out, or perhaps Trump finds a post for him that doesn’t require Senate confirmation. It would be great to think we’ve seen the last of him, but that would probably be premature.

What motivated senators to finally break with Trump? Likely a sense of self-preservation. As you’ll recall, Trump started this whole debacle with a demand that Republican senators permit him to bypass their confirmation vote and go out of session, so he could secure his cabinet via recess appointments. In essence, Trump wanted to cut the legislative branch of government out of its constitutional role in governing. As we discussed, doing that would have meant senators were bending the knee, and once you start down that path with Trump it doesn’t stop. Ultimately their opposition to this nominee may have been less about who he was and more about politicians who have caved to Trump at virtually every pass trying to retain a modicum of their power (their dignity is long gone).

We’ll find out as they consider the nominations of alleged rapist Pete Hegseth for Secretary of Defense (he firmly denies it), anti-science and public health RFK Jr. for HHS, and Tulsi Gabbard, who is frequently described as being Russia-friendly, for Director of National Intelligence. None of them would be confirmed by a Senate acting rationally in the nation’s best interests, but then that Senate would have also convicted Trump on impeachment charges after January 6. So before we get carried away and view the rejection of Gaetz as hopeful news about incoming Senate leadership, let’s see how they handle the remaining noms.

One other nomination may be in danger too. I haven’t seen this confirmed yet; by the time you read the newsletter, it probably will be one way or the other, but there were social media posts claiming Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Education, Linda McMahon, lied about having a college degree in education when seeking a position on the Connection Board of Education. She reportedly resigned a day before she was going to be exposed in the press. If this is true, it’s disqualifying and will be yet another test for the Senate.

As for Gaetz, he was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. His daddy is a prominent Florida politician and real estate investor, and Gaetz had an easy walk into politics. Donald Trump, who capitulated to Senate opposition to Gaetz this morning although he’d been reportedly working the phones for him, still thinks Gaetz has a “wonderful future” ahead of him.

By early evening though, Trump had already made a new pick. That suggests he didn’t really put a lot of time into vetting former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, who held that office from 2011 to 2019, before going on to positions important to her nomination like defense counsel for Trump during his second Senate impeachment trial. Trump more than likely already knew everything he needed to know to select her.

Bondi has experience as a prosecutor and with running a large office. And she gets high marks from Florida lawyers who’ve worked with her for surrounding herself with very smart people. But Bondi is a 2020 election denier with a long track record—that should be an absolute disqualifier. How can Bondi say she’ll uphold the oath of office that attorneys general take? Election denialism may be an article of faith for Trump supporters, but it should be a death knell for any nomination to be attorney general of the United States.

She has a long history of being aligned with Donald Trump. There were allegations in 2016 that she took improper political donations from Trump’s charitable organization. The gist of the story involved what some characterized as a bribe to get her to drop the investigation into Trump University while she was Florida’s AG. At the time, a spokesperson for Bondi denied “that a $25,000 donation from Donald Trump is in any way connected to her office’s decision not to pursue action against Trump University, despite dozens of complaints in Florida.”

Most recently, she’s been running the legal arm of the Trump-aligned America First Policy Institute. That’s the entity that sued the Fulton County, Georgia, Board of Elections earlier this year for a member of that board who wanted to have the right to refuse to certify an election based on a personal suspicion fraud had taken place. The courts rejected the lawsuit, but Bondi’s loyalty to Trump and willingness to ensure the outcome of the 2024 election have never been in doubt.

Bondi looks out into a crowd of Trump supporters, sees a man holding a “lock her up” sign and says to the crowd, “Stay with me. Lock her up, I love that!”

Bondi isn’t Gaetz. Gaetz was completely unqualified to be the Attorney General of the United States. It wasn’t a close call; it wasn’t a normal nomination. Bondi looks more “normal” on the surface, and she has the kind of experience you look for for a position like this. But even if she can competently handle 98% of the Department’s work—the national security cases, violent crime, drugs, sex trafficking, white collar cases, and so on—it’s the 2% that we have to be worried about. She accepted Trump’s Big Lie about the 2020 election even though her experience suggests she knows it wasn’t true. What happens when Trump asks her to engage in revenge prosecutions? Will she have the grit to say no? As someone who doesn’t come from DOJ, will she understand the importance of independence, or might she permit Trump to have direct contact and influence over criminal cases?

That’s what this nomination is about: is Trump going to get an attorney general who is willing to sully the Department’s independence and let it become a political tool for the White House, or will the Senate draw the line?

Bondi may not be Gaetz, but she is also not her Florida predecessor as the federal attorney general, Janet Reno, an experienced state AG who was beloved in her role at the Department and known for being ethically upright. She knew how to keep her distance from the Clinton White House, even investigating it and appointing a then-unprecedented number of special counsels.

A friend texted me this photo with the message, “I found Pam’s resume. Oh wait, it’s her Instagram. My bad.” I have been trying so hard to avoid sliding into snark, but this collage certainly reflects Bondi’s application to be Donald Trump’s Attorney General.

A friend in Florida gave Bondi props for surrounding herself with smart people, but said they were afraid she will try to appease Trump. That’s a big concern to me, too. If Trump demands it, will Bondi agree to conduct revenge prosecutions and go after people Trump thinks are his enemies? Will she be willing to target the press or others who have run afoul of Trump? If so, it doesn’t matter how experienced she is. Democratic senators will have to extract a commitment from her to reject White House interference in the work of the Justice Department, but it seems unlikely that they will get it. The best we can say tonight about Bondi is that she’s marginally better than the alternative.

At least we’ve now got a floor on what it takes to be Trump’s attorney general. You can’t be completely unqualified and credibly accused of using illegal drugs and having sex with a minor. So, I guess that’s something.

We’re in this together,

Joyce