On Wednesday, President-elect Donald Trump appointed Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida as his attorney general, bypassing more experienced candidates in favor of a loyalist who has earned a national reputation as a disruptor and has been tasked with significantly revamping the Justice Department.
Trump also revealed that he had nominated Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida for secretary of state. He also named Tulsi Gabbard, a former Democratic congresswoman and presidential aspirant, as his head of national intelligence.
The appointments followed a pattern of Trump filling his Cabinet with people he believes he can trust to carry out his agenda rather than long-time officials with expertise in their industries. Gaetz’s selection was particularly surprising. The Florida congressman was not one of the more well-known attorneys considered as potential candidates for the position, and even his congressional colleagues looked taken aback by the announcement.
“Everybody was saying, ‘Oh my God,'” recalled Republican Idaho Representative Mike Simpson. “That was about as big a surprise as I’ve had in a long time.”
Gaetz resigned from his House position on Wednesday evening.
Trump announced the decision in a post on his Truth Social network, claiming Gaetz will “root out the systemic corruption at DOJ, and return the Department to its true mission of fighting crime, and upholding our democracy and constitution.”
If confirmed by the Republican-led Senate, Gaetz would immediately become one of Trump’s most carefully watched Cabinet members, given his stated commitment to a president-elect who has pledged to retaliate against perceived opponents.
Gaetz represents much of Florida’s Panhandle and rose to prominence as a conservative after joining Congress, frequently defending Trump on cable news.
He irritated fellow Republicans in early 2023 when he introduced the resolution that effectively removed former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. McCarthy then helped fund a primary challenge against Gaetz, which featured advertising saying that he paid for sex with a 17-year-old, an allegation that had been investigated by the House Ethics Committee — though the inquiry was officially concluded Wednesday when Gaetz resigned from Congress. Gaetz has denied any involvement, and the Justice Department concluded its own sex trafficking inquiry without charging him.
House Republicans learned of the selection during a private meeting and originally assumed it was a joke before understanding Trump had appointed Gaetz as the nation’s chief law officer.
GOP Rep. Max Miller told reporters that the shock in the room was more a reflection of members’ relief that the Florida Republican would no longer be a member of the chamber after years of inciting intraparty feuds.
Even Trump’s Senate friends maintained their distance.
“We’ll see,” said Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson when asked if he would vote to confirm the congressman.
Sen. John Cornyn, a Texas Republican, signaled that the Senate will conduct a thorough inquiry of Gaetz, including the House Ethics Committee probe.
“I’m sure it will make for a popcorn-eating confirmation hearing,” said Republican Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., who is on the committee that will consider Gaetz’s nomination, said it would be “the first test of whether Republicans are willing to stand up to Donald Trump and go with conscience and conviction as opposed to just politics.”
The news came just after Trump confirmed his selection of Rubio, a Republican congressman, as the nation’s top diplomat. Rubio, a former critic who has become one of the president-elect’s staunchest supporters, is a recognized hawk on China, Cuba, and Iran. He was a finalist to be Trump’s running mate this summer. If confirmed, he would become the first Latino to hold the position.
Rubio serves as vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee and a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He has advocated for a tougher stance against China and has targeted the social media app TikTok since its parent firm is Chinese. He and other MPs argue that Beijing can demand access to consumers’ data whenever it wants.
“He will be a strong Advocate for our Nation, a true friend to our Allies, and a fearless Warrior who will never back down to our adversaries,” Trump said in reference to Rubio in a statement.
Trump made the personnel announcements as he flew back to Florida from Washington after meeting with President Biden.
The president-elect was anticipated to choose Rubio for the position, but he was also pressured by supporters of Ric Grenell, who served as acting director of national intelligence during Trump’s first administration.
Grenell responded to the news on X by saying, “Congratulations, Senator.” “You will be fantastic for America!”
Trump and Rubio have a long, tangled history, and the selection is the culmination of it. During their contentious race for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016, Rubio was extremely harsh on Trump, labeling him a “con artist” and “the most vulgar person to ever aspire to the presidency.”
He attempted to counter Trump’s frequently vulgar insults by making a joke about the size of Trump’s hands as a reference to his manhood. Trump retaliated by calling Rubio “little Marco,” a nickname that stayed with the senator for years.
But, like many Republicans who wanted to remain relevant in the Trump era, Rubio changed his rhetoric. As talk grew that Trump might choose him as his running mate, Rubio attempted to downplay the tension from 2016, claiming that the harsh tone just reflected the intensity of the campaign.
“That is like asking a boxer why they punched somebody in the face in the third round,” Rubio said CNN when asked about his earlier comments. “It’s because they were boxing.”
Rubio was first elected to the Senate in 2010 as part of the tea party tsunami of Republicans that surged through Washington. He soon developed a reputation as someone who could represent a more inclusive Republican Party. He was a key member of a team that worked on a 2013 immigration plan that offered a road to citizenship for millions of individuals living in the country illegally.
However, that proposal was stopped in the House, where more conservative Republicans were in power, indicating the party’s — and Rubio’s — impending strong rightward shift. Rubio now says he supports Trump’s idea to use the US military to deport those in the country illegally.
“We are going to have to do something, unfortunately, we’re going to have to do something dramatic,” Rubio said in a May interview with NBC.
Gabbard, meanwhile, will be the head of national intelligence. Vice President-elect JD Vance and Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., had both advocated for her to be appointed to a position in the government after she became close to them during the campaign.
She assisted Trump in preparing for his debate with Vice President Kamala Harris, revealed her decision to become a Republican at a Trump rally in the last stretch of the race, and earned enthusiastic applause from his supporters at events.
Gabbard, who has served in the Army National Guard for over two decades, including deployments to Iraq and Kuwait, would enter the post as an outsider compared to her predecessor. Avril Haines, the current director, was confirmed by the Senate in 2021 after serving in various high-level national security and intelligence posts.
Gabbard has not worked directly in the intelligence field, but has served on several House committees, including the Homeland Security Committee for two years. She, like the others Trump has chosen for agency leadership, has been one of his most popular political surrogates, frequently earning loud applause from crowds as she pushed for him in the final months of the campaign.
