House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) said Sunday that President-elect Trump's nominee for attorney general, former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), is “one of the brightest minds” in Washington. Ta.
In an interview with Shannon Bream on “Fox News Sunday,” Johnson downplayed concerns about Gates' nomination and praised him as a reformer.
“Look, Matt Gaetz is my colleague. We've served together for over eight years,” Johnson said. “He's one of the brightest minds in Washington, or anywhere for that matter, and he knows all about how the Department of Justice has been weaponized and abused.”
“And he's going to be a reformer. I think that's why the establishment in Washington is so upset about this nomination,” Johnson said.
President Trump has nominated Gates to the nation's top law enforcement post, but some Republican senators are also concerned about the president-elect's choice.
The House Ethics Committee has investigated Gaetz for years, investigating allegations of sexual misconduct and illegal drug use. He has strongly denied allegations of wrongdoing, and the Justice Department, which previously investigated whether he had sex with a 17-year-old, declined to charge him with the crime.
But the Ethics Committee investigation ended abruptly on Wednesday when President Trump resigned from the House of Representatives shortly after nominating Gates to be attorney general. The Ethics Commission has no jurisdiction over former members of Congress.
It remains unclear what path the committee will take with the Gates report. Some Republican senators have called for the Senate Judiciary Committee to be granted access to the report and findings as it moves forward with its scrutiny process.
Johnson said it was not within the Ethics Commission's authority to release the report because Gates is a former commissioner and not a current one.
“Well, for the reasons I just mentioned, I hope the Ethics Committee will abide by our traditions and protocols. What is the purpose of using those significant and substantial resources to investigate people who are not in the House of Commons?'' Johnson asked Bream.
“So people can also weaponize government functions,” he said. “The reason Matt Gaetz is such an attractive pick for a lot of people is because he's going to come into the Department of Justice and make reforms, which we desperately need.”
