President-elect Donald Trump‘s pick for Attorney General, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), is so far perhaps the most unexpected in a slew of unanticipated appointment choices as Trump prepares for his second term in office. (The nominations of Pete Hegseth for Defense Secretary and Tulsi Gabbard for Director of National Intelligence are among Trump’s other highly controversial picks.)
The objections to and criticisms of Gaetz — even by some reluctant Republicans including Sen. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Sen. Susan Collins (Maine) — has centered mainly on what he has done in the past. Gaetz, as self-described “firebrand,” has earned frequent condemnation for both his conduct as a Congress member and for unproven allegations of sexual misconduct and illicit drug use in his personal life.
But in the wake of his AG nod, the traditional conservative group Republicans Against Trump is amplifying a video that emphasizes a different aspect of Gaetz’s nomination.
The video focuses not on what the Florida Congressman has done in the past, but instead on how he envisions the future — a far more significant perspective as Gaetz now stands on the precipice of running the American justice system.
Trump’s nominee for Attorney General says he will defund and abolish the DOJ, FBI and CDC if “They don’t come to heel”
pic.twitter.com/2gQU6AbdEU
— Republicans against Trump (@RpsAgainstTrump) November 14, 2024
What does Gaetz see in that future? According to his own declarations in the video above, in a speech that received a rousing reception at CPAC, Gaetz threatened to defund a host of federal agencies that refuse to “come to heel.”
Gaetz says from the stage: “We defund and get rid of — abolish — the FBI, CDC, ATF, DOJ, every last one of them.”