Watch: Matt Gaetz’s full 2024 RNC speech
Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., delivers remarks at the 2024 Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.
President-elect Donald Trump announced on Wednesday that he had chosen to do so Rep. Matt Gaetza firebrand lawmaker who, as attorney general, has been a fierce critic of the Justice Department even while under investigation by the department.
From his seat on the Judiciary Committee, the Republican from Florida was an outspoken critic of the department and a staunch defender of Trump. Gaetz accused Attorney General Merrick Garland of arming the department and he said agreed with Special Counsel Robert Hur’s decision not to accuse President Joe Biden of mishandling classified documents because he was “senile.” Gaetz also accused FBI Director Christopher Wray of being “blissfully ignorant” about how agents conducted their investigations.
Gaetz demonstrated his willingness to fight the Washington establishment by opposing former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-California, and almost scuffles with other lawmakers on the House floor during the dispute. Gaetz has fended off a Republican primary challenge this year from a rival who supported McCarthy.
“Matt is a highly gifted and tenacious attorney, trained at William & Mary College of Law, who has distinguished himself in Congress through his focus on achieving much-needed reforms at the Department of Justice,” Trump said this in a message on Truth Social. “There are few issues in America more important than ending the partisan weaponization of our justice system.”
The The Department of Justice has more than 100,000 employees covering a wide range of interests. The department prosecutes federal criminal law through U.S. Attorney’s Offices and through its headquarters, and files civil lawsuits to enforce civil rights and antitrust laws. The department oversees agencies such as the FBI; the Drug Enforcement Administration; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the US Marshals Service and the Bureau of Prisons.
Trump spent much of his first administration at odds with the department over investigations into his aides and himself. He has done so ever since threatened to investigate rivals such as President Joe Biden and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. Trump has done that too threatened to investigate Attorney General Merrick Garland and Special Prosecutor Jack Smith, who filed two charges against him.
Trump’s first National Security Advisor Michael Flynnresigned weeks into office after lying to the FBI about his contacts with a Russian ambassador before Trump’s inauguration. Flynn was convicted and Trump pardoned him after the 2020 elections.
Trump has fired his first Attorney General Jeff Sessions for recusing himself from the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein has appointed special counsel Robert Mueller, a former FBI director, to investigate what Trump called a partisan witch hunt.
Müller and the intelligence community discovered that Russia had interfered with the election to favor Trump over Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, but that Trump’s campaign had not cooperated in the interference.
Mueller has not made any decision on whether to indict Trump for obstruction of his investigation due to long-standing department policy against indicting a sitting president.
After Trump left office, special counsel Jack Smith filed two charges against Trump. One alleged he conspired to steal the 2020 election and stop Congress from counting the Electoral College votes. The other alleged that he unlawfully withheld classified documents after leaving the White House.
But Smith does to conclude the two federal criminal cases against Trump under the same department policy against trying a sitting president. One judge gave Smith until December 2 to explain his plans for the election interference case. Another judge dismissed the charges dealing with classified documents by ruling that Smith was unlawfully appointed and that Smith has appealed, but is expected to withdraw that appeal.
Trump was strongly against it Smith releases a summary of the evidence in the election interference case before the elections because he had no chance to refute the claims.
Trump and House Republicans have threatened to investigate Smith, whose investigation was criticized by his Democratic rival Biden’s administration as a partisan witch hunt. Biden and Garland have denied a political motive for the investigation.
‘They should throw crazy Jack Smith and his thugs in jail while Meritless Garland and Trump hate Lisa Monaco’ Trump said this in a message on Truth Social in July 2023, citing Attorney General Merrick Garland and Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco. “They have fully armed the Ministry of Injustice.”
Two Speakers of the House − Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, on the Judiciary Committee and Rep. Barry Loudermilk, R-Ga., on the Government Oversight Subcommittee − Smith wrote on November 8 to ask him to keep all data from his research.
Garland, who appointed Smith, denied any political motivation in the decision, saying Smith would follow the facts and the law.