'Start cuttin’ heads': Matt Gaetz poised to 'torch the DOJ' as Trump taps him for AG

U.S. Congressman Matt Gaetz speaking with supporters at an "An Address to Young Americans" event, featuring President Donald Trump, hosted by Students for Trump and Turning Point Action at Dream City Church in Phoenix, Arizona. Image via Gage Skidmore.
Elizabeth Preza
November 14, 2024Trump

Former Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz resigned from Congress on Wednesday shortly after President-elect Donald Trump tapped the self-proclaimed “firebrand” for attorney general.

That announcement sent shock waves through the Department of Justice, CNN and the Bulwark report.

“Holy f------ s---” one government lawyer told the Bulwark’s Marc Caputo in response to the news. “And, what the f---!”

READ MORE: 'Caused such a stir': Reporter sheds light on 'the point' of Trump's controversial picks

But, as Caputo wrote Wednesday, Gaetz “is ready to torch” the DOJ should Trump successfully install him as attorney general. According to Caputo, Trump sees Gaetz as “a loyal, longtime adviser, an acid-tongued debate champ, and an aggrieved target of the feds.” Gaetz once faced a sex trafficking investigation by the very department he’s now slated to lead.

“As Trump began formulating the type of individual he wanted atop the DOJ, he was drawn to those attributes and to the idea that Gaetz would help him investigate the investigators,” Caputo reports.

“The hunters have become the hunted,” a "Gaetz confidant” told the Bulwark. “This is not your grandfather’s party. This is MAGA.”
“None of the attorneys had what Trump wants, and they didn’t talk like Gaetz,” a Trump adviser said. “Everyone else looked at AG as if they were applying for a judicial appointment. They talked about their vaunted legal theories and constitutional bull----. Gaetz was the only one who said, ‘Yeah, I’ll go over there and start cuttin’ f------ heads.’”

Caputo reports the “audacious” pick even “prompted immediate speculation that Gaetz was actually playing the role of a sacrificial lamb—there to give Republican senators a nominee to tank so that they would have cover to vote yes on other Cabinet selections.”
“But those familiar with Trump’s thinking say he’s deadly serious about getting Gaetz in at DOJ,” Caputo adds.

READ MORE: Here’s how Trump could confirm his whole Cabinet without one single confirmation vote

Read the full report at the Bulwark.