Chief Law Enforcer?

I am a bit confused over President Trump's latest appointment, Matt Gaetz, for Attorney General. I have loved every single one of Trump's picks for Cabinet, up until this point. I just can't get behind this one. That won't be popular, I know. I feel like I am the only one that has doubts.

I was originally a Gaetz supporter, years ago. At least, I didn't have anything against him and I believed him to be a strong conservative. Then the interview below happened. I believe this was about 3 years ago.

Truth be known, when I saw that interview, in my heart of hearts I believed Matt Gaetz was guilty. I know; I know; we don't do that. We don't judge and we don't go by feelings. But I think anybody with even a modicum amount of discernment can read between the lines of that interview.

Gaetz tried to drag Tucker into his mess; not once but twice. Once, by reminding Tucker that Tucker had the same thing happen to him...meaning the accusations. Misery loves company and so does guilt. And then secondly, by insinuating that Tucker had met the "woman" and they all had dinner together.

Number one, a 17 year old is still a teenager and that's usually how we refer to them. At the end of the interview, Tucker obviously wanted to disassociate himself from Gaetz, and afterwards, he did not have him on his show at Fox for a very long time.

A couple other reasons I came to my conclusion that he was guilty, was that his friend and business partner with whom he was involved at the time, went to prison for 11 years on the same charge, at the same time as all this took place. That's seen as guilt by association, I know, and when you put it all together, things just aren't adding up. The Department of Justice ended up investigating Gaetz due to this connection.

Further, when an anti-trafficking bill, came before Congress, Matt Gaetz was the only one - Democrat or Republican! - that voted against it. Think about that! He was the only one in the entire House of Representatives to vote against human trafficking! He claimed freedom was his reason. I don't think so. There are about 434 other people working with him who also believe in freedom.

I also tend to believe the charges against him for illicit drug use and taking illegal gifts are true. He is a supporter of legalization of pot and a known partier. He has been described often as "a smart guy with no morals.” I, too, believed that to be true, after seeing him poorly attempting to quote Bible verses on Mike Huckabee's show; and a few days later throwing out F-bombs every other word on someone's podcast.

The Department of Justice eventually dropped the investigation of Matt for whatever reason, but he is was still under investigation by the House Ethics Committee.* I don't know why in the world that's taking that took so long. It was due to come out just a few days after Trump nominated him for Attorney General. Instead, he quickly resigned.

People are trying to say it was the Democrats that brought the charges against Matt and it is all political. But that's just not true. This all started while Trump was in office. I believe it was 2017 or 2018. It was his connection to Joel Greenberg who is now serving time in prison for sex trafficking that caused him to be investigated. Apparently Joel implicated him.

Then the feud between Kevin McCarthy and Matt Gaetz began. It has been reported that Matt asked Kevin to do some things in regard to his troubles, which Kevin had no authority to do. Kevin told him, "No, we just have to let it play out through the Ethics Committee." (Probably a paraphrase.) Matt didn't like that and hence began the feud, ending in Matt working with Democrats and 7 other Republicans to remove Kevin as Speaker of the House. It was dirty revenge and nothing more. But by doing what he did, he set a dangerous precedent that now allows only one person to bring a Motion to Vacate the Speaker. Something like 96% of the Republicans supported Kevin McCarthy as Speaker, so basically seven of Matt's friends supported him as he worked behind the scenes with Democrats to make the removal happen. And those seven Republicans were probably about the only friends Matt has in the entire Congress. By multiple accounts, those around him can't stand him. And for good reason, if you ask me. I believe there have been efforts to change that rule back to a higher majority than just one person. I am not sure if that has been accomplished yet.

So there's that. That brings me to President Trump's decision to appoint him as Attorney General. I totally do not understand that decision with all these things hanging over Matt's head.

This totally threw a monkey wrench into an otherwise perfect transition of power and selection of Trump's Cabinet. Why do that? It's already bringing chaos. Normally, it wouldn't even be a worry, because there is no way that Matt would ever make it through the confirmation process. I just don't think the majority would ever vote for him. And I am not alone in saying that. Many would, like Lindsey Graham, who has said that he has always voted for all Presidents' appointments, because he believes as President, they deserve to choose the people they want. I believe that too; but there are so many different innuendos to this appointment, because of Gaetz actively being under investigation by Ethics. The reality is, Trump is our President, not our God. The Balance of Power is critically important and orchestrated by our Founders, just for situations such as this.

Then to top it off, President Trump has demanded recess appointments... I basically agreed with that... until this. I now totally see why that might not be the best thing to happen. I do understand his reasoning; but then he made *this* appointment that was sure to kibosh it all. It doesn't matter if I'm right about that or not; but that's the way many people are thinking now. So basically President Trump kind of stuck a knife in his own request for that type of procedure - recess appointments. It has thrown in an unnecessary obstacle. And it all probably would have gone unnoticed, had it not been for the appointment of Matt Gaetz.

As a side note, recess appointments have been used by Presidents ever since George Washington. It began due to time constraints in travel. Most recently Presidents Clinton, and Bush used them 139, and 171 times, respectively. President Barack Obama used them 32 times and would have continued doing so, but out of concern for abuse, the Supreme Court ruled against using them so freely to help limit the President’s power. A 2014 ruling required Congress to be out of session for 10 days before the President can appoint. The House of Representatives also has some authority over recess appointments. They can vote to keep the Senate in session, not allowing them to adjourn.***

All of this is why President Trump made a point to ask Congress to be sure he would be allowed to use them. That is understandable really. He has constantly had to fight tooth and nail about unfair tactics used against him...number 1, a biased media and number 2, basically what I would call a hostile Democrat Caucus.

I know President Trump believes Gaetz to be a bulldog or a "firebrand" as Gaetz likes to call himself, but character is important to us. Personally, I have wondered because of all the false accusations against Trump, if he isn't just a bit more willing than most, to take a chance on Matt's innocence. Yes, I believe Trump is innocent on charges continually leveled against him and yes I believe Matt Gaetz *is* guilty. I get to think for myself, research and decide.

Matt, to his credit, (maybe) has resigned his position in the House. This, in order to allow Governor DeSantis time to find a replacement, because under state law he is allowed to run an expedited election. As I noted above, others believe Gaetz resigned in order to avoid the Ethics Committee Report being released. He resigned two days before it was to be released. They no longer have jurisdiction now that he has resigned and it is the norm to not release a report of someone no longer serving in Congress.

This all also brings up another important point. We have to be extremely careful to hold onto the low numbers the GOP holds in the house. We really can't afford to lose anyone and keep control. It will work out for this situation, because in Florida, Governor DeSantis has 8 weeks to run an election for a representative; but in many States that's not allowed.

Governors can appoint *Senators* in every state, so that isn't as much of a worry, but Governors cannot *appoint* Representatives in most States. I know President Trump and Speaker of the House Johnson are working together on this. And I have confidence they won't let the numbers in either Chamber get too low. I am aware that Speaker Johnson is not in support of the Ethics Committee releasing the report, which has only happened one or two other times.** So a precedent has been set...kind of.

I have been praying the truth comes out about Matt Gaetz. It doesn't seem to matter to most Gaetz supporters. They love to point out that the Department of Justice (DoJ) acquitted Gaetz two years ago. But that was for connections to the sex trafficking case for which his friend, Joel Greenberg, was convicted and sentenced to 11 years in prison. The investigation of Matt Gaetz began, which sought to determine if he violated sex trafficking and obstruction of justice laws. He may or may not be guilty, but the DoJ ended up dropping those charges...due to what I believe was lack of evidence. However, that didn't stop the investigation into *ethics* charges brought against Gaetz by the House. If you are comfortable with consensual sex with an underage teenager (I'm not!), there is still the issue of his alleged illegal drug use, accepting illegal gifts and lying to Congress. All of these are crimes, albeit on a different level than the crimes the DoJ was investigating.

I am hoping Trump has an unseen plan and Gaetz will not be our AG. I really don't care if he is a "firebrand". After everything we have been through, we deserve better. I don't want to be like what we have already been enduring. I want to be "unburdened by what has been."

There are other people that can fight DoJ as aggressively as Gaetz, without the drama and doubt created by what is hanging over his head. This appointment will slow Trump down and continue to divide the GOP. The DoJ didn’t find evidence of sex-trafficking or obstruction of justice. Did they investigate sex with a minor, illicit drugs and accepting illegal gifts, which the ethics committee was investigating? Personally, I think everyone knows he could be guilty of all of that...they just don’t care...you know – "personal life doesn’t matter.” Except it does...especially for the position of Attorney General! That seems to matter only to a rare few in DC. Gaetz seems to have beat the rap.

Did anyone check to see if anyone was paid off at the Department of Justice? No, really! Couldn’t that be possible? Gaetz family is loaded; it wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility. Certainly not making any accusations; but don't we usually check out things like that? Attorney General, of all positions, needs to be held to a hire standard. I’m going against all the people I have long supported, (only on this issue) but I think this is a mistake we could do without. This won’t end well.

There are very few people with a platform that seem willing to talk about any of this. Perhaps afraid of repercussions, or looking poorly by seemingly not agreeing with President Trump. Will we ever get back to the days where we can state our opinion without being mocked or attacked? Discussion is how we learn. No one is perfect….including my favorite President. *Since I wrote this Matt has resigned the House which ends the Ethics Committee Investigation because they lose jurisdiction. It has also come out that the Ethics Report revealed that the 17 year old testified against Gaetz saying the allegations were true. Go figure. There is also reportedly an eye witness. It seems we can now also add lying to Congress to the list of his offenses. We deserve better... especially for the top position in Law Enforcement.

** Speaker Mike Johnson has just come out in support of NOT releasing the Ethics Committee Report. He certainly knows more than I do and I trust him. But I still hope the truth comes out in a confirmation process. We just can't afford a compromised Attorney General.

*** Days after the most controversial appointment, I think we are seeing a difference in wording of the calls for demanding every nominee be confirmed. It seems now they are making a point to say, "we only want them to have a fair chance at confirmation." That is how it should be. And the only thing, I for one, wanted all along. No one should get a free pass, just because it is the President's request. That's the purpose of checks and balances. However, if there is nothing egregious hanging over a nominee, the President absolutely should get his nominee confirmed. It is my personal belief, President Trump in the case of Matt Gaetz, not confirm him in a recess appointment. Due to everything that has happened in way of investigations, the citizens have a right to know exactly who we are getting in the highest Law Enforcement officer in the land.

Updated with corrections: November 19, 2024. Additionally due to ever changing news on the situation, new information was added on November 21, 2024