Almost-Attorney General Matt Gaetz
My Dean's List editorial of December 24, 2024
Season’s greetings.
I had not planned to write a Dean’s List editorial (on Medium) this week, but the House Ethics Committee made me do it. When I read their report on ex-Congressman Matt Gaetz, I realized how lucky Donald Trump was when a handful of wise Republican Senators decided to oppose Gaetz’s nomination as the next Attorney General.
Trump was spared the embarrassment of an AG who would likely have imploded (exploded?) shortly after Inauguration Day. We all must be grateful for that because the Attorney General's job is serious.
What struck me about the House Ethics Committee report was what it said, indirectly, about Donald Trump—the president-elect’s handling of the Gaetz nomination was the work of someone unfit to be president.
I did not want to write that about Trump 2.0. I am not a Trump fan, but I would welcome Trump taking the presidency seriously. His handling of the Gaetz nomination suggests we are in for a rough time, likely worse than his first try at being president.
The editorial as published may be found here and is reprinted below:
Almost-Attorney General Matt Gaetz
The Gaetz fiasco is more about Trump than the troubled ex-Congressman and playboy.
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President-Elect Trump hit the ground running on November 13 when he announced the selection of Matt Gaetz to serve as Attorney General in his second administration. Political insiders gasped. Sordid rumors had been circulating about Gaetz since he first slithered into town in 2017. And his abrasive, controversial, reckless acts as a member of the House of Representatives made him a hated legislator, even among right-wing Republicans.
Donald Trump is not known for his empathy, but some suggested he offered Gaetz the job of Attorney General to spare him the career-ending action of being expelled from the House of Representatives. The House Ethics Committee was about to publish the results of its investigation of various criminal and ethical allegations against Gaetz. These allegations included sex trafficking, drug use, and misuse of Congressional funds and services.
It should have been obvious that Gaetz would receive intense scrutiny in the Senate if nominated, but Trump was basking in the glory of his electoral win. He assumed that most Republican Senators would vote for all his nominees, regardless of their personal histories or qualifications, and that he could bully any exceptions into submission. Trump’s assumption has been correct, except for the Gaetz nomination.
The Gaetz AG nomination lasted only eight days and was withdrawn after it was clear approval was unlikely.
As others have written since the release of the Gaetz report, the Senators who defied Trump in the Senate and signaled opposition to the Gaetz nomination saved Trump from himself. Trump has been spared the embarrassment of having Gaetz at the Department of Justice and his probable early forced resignation or impeachment.
The damage to Trump.
Once Trump nominated Pam Bondi as his second Attorney General nominee, he understandably has quit talking about Gaetz. Now that the Ethics Committee report has been released. It is a sobering read. The portrait of Gaetz that emerges is that of a vile, meritless human being who has no business serving in Congress, let alone as the nation’s chief law enforcement officer.
Trump demonstrated recklessness, arrogance, hubris, irresponsibility, and, one might argue, mental impairment in nominating Gaetz without first exploring the allegations against him.
Trump’s failures that led to the Gaetz mess include declining an FBI vetting. The FBI report would have read similarly to the House Ethics report. One can assume that Trump did not request an FBI investigation of Gaetz because he knew what might be found — and assumed that given his electoral win, it didn’t matter.
What did the House Ethics Committee find in its investigation of Gaetz?
The Committee found substantial evidence of the following:
In 2017, Representative Gaetz engaged in sexual activity with a 17-year-old girl.
From at least 2017 to 2020, Representative Gaetz regularly paid women for engaging in sexual activity with him.
During the period 2017 to 2019, Representative Gaetz used or possessed illegal drugs, including cocaine and ecstasy, on multiple occasions.
Representative Gaetz accepted gifts, including transportation and lodging in connection with a 2018 trip to the Bahamas, in excess of permissible amounts.
In 2018, Representative Gaetz arranged for his Chief of Staff to assist a woman with whom he engaged in sexual activity in obtaining a passport, falsely indicating to the U.S. Department of State that she was a constituent.
Representative Gaetz knowingly and willfully sought to impede and obstruct the Committee’s investigation of his conduct.
Representative Gaetz has acted in a manner that reflects discreditably upon the House.
It’s obvious the takeaway is that every Trump nominee should be subject to special scrutiny. The Senate, including MAGA Senators, should not assume that any Trump nominee has been vetted. Any Senator who would like Trump to succeed and any Senator who wants the country to avoid additional mismanagement and embarrassment should take their responsibility to advise and consent seriously.
What would a detailed investigative report on RFK, Jr., Tulsi Gabbard, and Pete Hegseth look like?
Focusing on Hegseth — the allegations against him relating to sexual assault are worse than the sex allegations against Matt Gaetz. Gaetz was paying for sex. What, one wonders, was Hegseth doing at that Republican conference where he may have raped a woman after allegedly drugging her?
© 2024 Copyright John Dean. All rights reserved.
Mr. Dean asks: "What would a detailed investigative report on RFK, Jr., Tulsi Gabbard, and Pete Hegseth look like?"
Well, given what has already been reported in the press, reports on any of them would reveal that none of these nominees is even remotely qualified for the positions for which they have been nominated.
People have so far focused on unacceptable personal behavior. However, the more important question is whether any of them have the education and experience necessary to do those jobs. People in cabinet level positions have to know what they are doing because the welfare of their subordinates as well as of the rest of us depends upon their making good decisions.
While he has some military experience, Hegseth, who has achieved only the rank of major, has never commanded a group larger than a platoon, about 40 people. Should the Senate place him in charge of 3 million service members who may be asked to risk their lives should Hegseth make the wrong decision?
Kennedy, Jr. has opposed most vaccines which protect all of us from sometimes deadly viruses. As a cancer survivor, I am in remission because researchers at NIH continue to discover new and more effective treatments for cancer and other diseases. Do we want Kennedy ordering those scientists what to investigate and what to leave alone?
Finally, Gabbard has had significant contacts with people like Putin and the now deposed dictator who ran a brutal regime in Syria. With her apparent approval of authoritarian leaders, do we want her defending our democracy and all of us?
The Senate has the power to advise and consent on these nominations. They should just say no. If they cede the power they have to Trump, they have no power at all. They should have learned both from the Gaetz fiasco as well as the past weekend's conflict about funding our government that they can and should oppose Trump. After they voted to reject his proposal to suspend or eliminate the debt ceiling, the sun came up the next day anyway. So, Senators, do the job people elected you to do: lead.