Byron York: Matt Gaetz ‘a terrible pick’ for attorney general – Washington Examiner

Washington Examiner chief political correspondent Byron York warned that former Rep. Matt Gaetz is a “terrible pick” for attorney general.

President-elect Donald Trump announced Wednesday that he had chosen Gaetz as the chief legal officer, and the Florida congressman subsequently resigned from the House of Representatives. While on Special Report with Bret Baier, other guests suggested that Gaetz was the choice to enact major reform in the Justice Department as Trump wants, but York said that “Matt Gaetz can still be a terrible pick” even if he does as Trump says.

“I do think it was a terrible pick, and we don’t know the status of the House Ethics Committee investigation into alleged misconduct,” York said. “We do know the Justice Department investigated and didn’t charge him with anything, but the thing we really know, for a fact, is that Matt Gaetz played a hugely aggressive role in nearly destroying the House — the Republican Party in the House of Representatives, based mostly on a personal vendetta against Kevin McCarthy, who was then the speaker of the House.”

In York’s opinion, Gaetz is “lucky” that appointments are confirmed in the Senate instead of the House.

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“He’s got enemies all over the place, and the reason he has those enemies was that the things he did were so damaging for no good reason,” York explained.

The president-elect’s nomination of Gaetz came as a surprise to many, as the Florida representative was not reported to be on the short list for the position. The likes of Sens. Eric Schmitt (R-MO), Mike Lee (R-UT), former Trump administration official Jeffrey Clark, and former acting attorney general Matthew Whitaker were suspected to be in the running. Schmitt publicly withdrew from consideration days before Trump made his announcement.

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