SAUNDERS: Matt Gaetz was never going to be attorney general

WASHINGTON

Why did President-elect Donald Trump pick then-Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., to be the next attorney general back in November?

Gaetz is no legal heavyweight. He’s never run an organization with thousands of workers, like the Department of Justice. And he’s not exactly big on respecting the law.

Nonetheless, Trump went with Gaetz first, in what appears to be a reward for the Floridian’s loyalty, his only qualification.

In short order, Gaetz bowed out of the running and Trump named his second choice, former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, who seems likely to win confirmation in the Senate.

One reason could be that when Gaetz resigned, he left the jurisdiction of the House Ethics Committee, which had not completed its probe, started in 2021, into allegations of sexual misconduct and illicit drug use by Gaetz. Gaetz had reason to expect that his departure from the House would prevent the report’s release.

But then on Dec. 23, the panel released the 37-page report, and two items stood out.

The first: “Indeed, nearly every woman that the Committee spoke with could not remember the details of at least one or more of the events they attended with Rep. Gaetz and attributed that to drug or alcohol consumption.”

The second: “The Committee received testimony that Victim A and Rep. Gaetz had sex twice during the party, including at least once in the presence of other party attendees.” Victim A “had just completed her junior year of high school.”

She turned 18 later in 2017. He was 35.

Gaetz vehemently denies allegations in the report that he had sexual contact with an individual under 18. Like all those who are accused, he deserves the presumption of innocence.

But he undermines his case with his lack of understanding just how bad it looks when, according to the Ethics Committee’s report, a member of Congress spent his spare time with young women like Victim A, who told investigators Gaetz gave her $400 in cash, which she understood to be payment for sex.

Gaetz posted his version of his behavior on X: “Giving funds to someone you are dating — that they didn’t ask for — and that isn’t ‘charged’ for sex is now prostitution?!? There is a reason they did this to me on a Christmas Eve-Eve report and not in a courtroom of any kind where I could present evidence and challenge witnesses.”

I think the term “tone deaf” applies here.

Gaetz especially angered fellow House Republicans when he allegedly shared images and videos of women on the House floor, which had been part of the probe.

And that could be why one or more of five Republicans on the House Ethics Committee apparently joined five Democrats and voted to release the report on Dec. 23.

So we’re back to the theory that Trump picked Gaetz knowing that the Floridian’s resignation would remove the ethics probe from the House jurisdiction — and hoping that the House panel would not go against Trump by pushing for the report’s release.

The gambit failed — and that’s a good thing.

Contact Review-Journal Washington columnist Debra J. Saunders at dsaunders@reviewjournal.com. Follow @debrajsaunders on X.