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President-elect Donald Trump rocked the Republican-controlled Senate this week with a string of unorthodox Cabinet picks.
Senators and senators-elect barely had time to elect new leadership on Wednesday, giving South Dakota Sen. John Thune the role of majority leader, before that leadership was put to the test with the prospect of confirming controversial former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., as the next United States attorney general.
Utah Sen. Mike Lee, who was widely considered a top pick for AG, told the Deseret News in a statement that Trump’s Cabinet nominees represent the message Trump rode to a historic victory on Nov. 5 and that they deserve to be put in place.
“Millions of Americans gave President Trump a mandate to govern, and I look forward to swiftly confirming his nominees so they can start working for the American people,” Lee said.
The surprising selection of Gaetz — which was reportedly made in a matter of hours aboard Trump’s airplane — followed announcements that Fox News host and military veteran Pete Hegseth was Trump’s choice as secretary of defense, that former Democratic congresswoman and military veteran Tulsi Gabbard was Trump’s choice for director of national intelligence and that billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk was Trump’s choice to head the new Department of Government Efficiency.
In a statement to the Deseret News, Utah Sen.-elect John Curtis said the Senate should not abandon its job to vet nominees for top positions in the executive branch.
“Sen.-elect Curtis believes that every president is afforded a degree of deference to select his team and make nominations. He also firmly believes in and is committed to the Senate’s critical role to confirm or reject nominations based on information and insight from confirmation hearings,” a Curtis spokesperson told the Deseret News.
“Curtis takes his constitutional duty to provide advice and consent seriously and his goal is to ensure that Utahns’ voices are heard. He plans to carefully examine the records and qualifications of every nominee President-elect Trump sends to the Senate.”
Gaetz’s nomination to head more than 100,000 employees at the Department of Justice has sparked a more varied response among congressional lawmakers than any other Cabinet pick so far.
“Matt’s not a very popular guy because he’s not really a team player,” Rep. Burgess Owens, of Utah’s 4th Congressional District, said of his former colleague, in an interview with the Deseret News. “But for the position that President Trump needs him for, he’s one of the smartest guys we have in our Congress. He’s no question very bright. He’s very tenacious. And that’s what President Trump wants.”
Gaetz gained national attention in October 2023 when he spearheaded the ouster of his party’s House speaker for the first time in American history. During his four terms in Congress, Gaetz has argued for immediate cuts to discretionary spending and touted his reliance on small-dollar donors instead of big-moneyed special interests.
Before tendering his resignation on Wednesday, Gaetz posted about the need to counter the weaponization of the federal government by abolishing “three letter agencies” like the FBI, which the attorney general oversees.
Gaetz was also the subject of a House Ethics Committee investigation into alleged sexual misconduct with an underage girl in violation of sex trafficking laws. Trump called on Gaetz to leave Congress for a Cabinet job two days before the committee was scheduled to vote on releasing the “highly damaging” report.
Trump’s choice for AG was praised by some Republican senators, including Rand Paul of Kentucky, Vice President-elect JD Vance of Ohio and Marco Rubio of Florida, who Trump tapped as secretary of state. But it was met with consternation by others.
News of Gaetz’s potential promotion to attorney general led Senate Judiciary chair Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, to 30 seconds of stunned silence. Republican Sens. Suzan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Thom Tillis of North Carolina also expressed skepticism — putting Gaetz’s confirmation by at least 50 of 53 Senate Republicans at risk.
But Trump is working to make sure disagreement from GOP senators doesn’t become a roadblock to installing his preferred personnel.
Prior to Wednesday’s Senate leadership election, Trump demanded that Thune and his opponents, Texas Sen. John Cornyn and Florida Sen. Rick Scott, commit to allowing him to use a process known as “recess appointments,” where Cabinet officials are instated without Senate approval when Congress is out of session.
Each candidate expressed openness to the idea, with now-Majority Leader Thune saying “all options are on the table” to quickly install Trump’s nominees. But many senators, including Curtis, have emphasized the importance of their constitutionally mandated role to provide “advise and consent” for the president’s picks to head executive agencies.
In response to reporters’ questions about Gaetz, outgoing Utah Sen. Mitt Romney said he had no comment because he will not be in the next Congress.
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