Matt Gaetz’s Trump nomination is a sign of dark intentions

Photo: Mike Segar/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Matt Gaetz, Attorney General of the United States. It’s almost an oxymoron.

This is a crazy choice. This is a dangerous choice. This is a choice that warns of dark intentions.

Let’s get specific. We can evaluate each candidate for attorney general on two core criteria: qualifications and independence.

Gaetz is aggressively unqualified. The man has never been a prosecutor. He has no idea what it means to stand up in court and represent the United States. He has no idea what it means to investigate, accuse and condemn another human being. He’s never been in a position to deprive another human being of his freedom, and he has no idea what that feels like. He has no sense of judgment or prosecutorial discretion. That’s not his fault; he just never did his job.

Nor is Gaetz independent by any definition of the term. He is “an outspoken conservative rabble-rouser” and “a tireless defender of President Trump.” He has been given nicknames like the “Trumpiest Congressman in Trump’s Washington” and “the Trumpiest Congressman,” both of which he “considers badges of honor.” He is undoubtedly proud of it; each of the previous quotes in this paragraph is taken verbatim Gaetz’s own conference website.

The stakes here are unimaginably high. The attorney general sits on top United States Department of Justice. That means he is in charge of more than 115,000 employees, including federal prosecutors, civil attorneys and law enforcement officers. He manages an amount of $37 billion annual budget. The AG supervises all 94 U.S. law firms; separate criminal investigative divisions handling civil rights, national security and public integrity cases; the Solicitor General, who handles all Supreme Court cases for the federal government; the FBI, DEA and ATF; the Bureau of Prisons; and the US Marshals. It’s a big job that involves unimaginable power.

Regular readers of this column know that I do not believe in doomsday scenarios, including those relating to Trump’s second term. But Gaetz’s impending appointment as the nation’s top law enforcement official is as dark and obvious as the harbinger can be. Gaetz prides himself on his political attack dog tactics, on defending Trump unconditionally, and on settling scores (or perceived scores) with his political opponents. And there will be very few guardrails to check his power. Republican majorities will control the Senate and (probably) the House of Representatives, so don’t expect meaningful congressional oversight. The judiciary can also do little to rein in an investigation, although the courts will play a bigger role if (and hopefully not when) this all results in politically driven charges.

In 2021 I wrote a book called Ax man: How Bill Barr Broke the Prosecutor’s Code and Corrupted the Justice Department. It’s pretty much all right in the title. Barr was a terrible attorney general. But right now, I’d take Barr as AG in half a second. His tenure was defined by dishonesty and political manipulation to protect Trump and his political allies. But at least Barr understood the Justice Department; he had served as AG and held other high-ranking DOJ positions in the early 1990s. And he had a line he wouldn’t cross. While Barr unapologetically used his power to defend Trump, he generally would not use the department as an offensive weapon to go after political opponents — despite Trump’s repeated calls for him to do so. Gaetz promises to blow right past that line.

There is a tradition at the Justice Department that new prosecutors are given a copy of a legendary document speech delivered by Attorney General Robert Jackson in 1940. Jackson spoke of the extraordinary power prosecutors have over life, liberty, and property. “While at his best the prosecutor is one of the most beneficent forces in our society, when he acts from malice or other base motives he is one of the worst,” he told the assembled prosecutors. That applies today, more than 80 years later. Jackson’s speech is usually cited as an inspirational text. It now threatens to become a prescient warning.