国会山共和党人对当选总统唐纳德·特朗普的反应马特·盖兹的选择周三成为他的司法部长从震惊到支持不等。
几个众议院共和党人闭门会议的人说，当他们听到川普选择了盖兹时，房间里有一种可以听到的喘息声。
缅因州共和党参议员苏珊·科林斯也表示震惊，他似乎指的是特朗普要求他的提名人在没有参议院确认的情况下完成休会任命。
“这说明了为什么建议和同意程序是如此重要，我相信在他的听证会上将会有很多问题提出来，”柯林斯告诉记者。“显然，总统有权提名他想提名的人，但我肯定会有很多问题。”
阿拉斯加州共和党参议员莉萨·穆尔科斯基在特朗普第一个任期内的第二次弹劾审判中投票认定特朗普有罪，他说:“我认为这不是一个严肃的司法部长提名。”
“我们需要一个严肃的司法部长，我期待着有机会考虑一个严肃的人，”她说。"这个不在我的宾果卡上."
盖兹面临司法部长达一年的调查，该调查始于2019年，涉及与性贩运和妨碍司法公正有关的指控。他一直否认有任何不当行为，司法部在2023年通知盖兹，在调查后拒绝对他提出指控。
但是这位佛罗里达国会议员仍然面临着进行调查由众议院道德委员会就同样的指控。
众议院议长·迈克·约翰逊周三晚上宣布，盖兹已经从国会辞职，立即生效，开始为佛罗里达州州长罗恩·德桑蒂斯召集特别选举填补空缺的进程“计时”。盖兹的辞职将结束道德委员会的调查，该委员会不调查离开国会后的成员。
南达科他州的共和党参议员迈克·朗斯(Mike Rounds)被问及道德调查是否与他有关，他说，“当然，这将是有关的，因为这将是他档案的一部分，”朗斯说..Rounds告诉记者，他对Gaetz是否会被确认“还没有反应”。当被问及他是否会投票确认时，他说，“我现在能告诉你的是，我们通常会假定总统无罪，但我们仍然会尽职调查，建议和同意仍然很重要。”
当被问及对Gaetz的看法时，怀俄明州共和党参议员Cynthia Lummis含糊其辞，他告诉记者，“我甚至还没有机会考虑它，它对我来说太新了。”
爱达荷州共和党参议员迈克·克拉波告诉美国广播公司新闻，他不知道盖兹，“所以我必须深入调查。”当被问及盖兹是否可以被证实时，他说，“我不知道，但我认为可以。”
当天早些时候，川普宣布佛罗里达州共和党参议员马尔科·卢比奥为国务卿，他对他的佛罗里达州同胞说了一些赞美的话。
“我认识他很长时间了，再说一次，我认为总统有权拥有他的团队，他已经做出了任命，”他说。“所以，我很喜欢马特。我非常了解他，我相信如果参议院批准他，他会做得很好。再说一次，总统有权让他们想要的人担任这些关键职位，以执行美国选民交付给他的使命美国.”
在众议院方面，路易斯安那州的多数党领袖史蒂夫·斯卡利斯和众议院道德委员会主席迈克尔·盖斯特。，表示支持特朗普的挑选。但俄亥俄州共和党众议员马克斯·米勒(Max Miller)对这一选择提出了强烈质疑，他曾是川普的前助手，在去年川普努力驱逐时任议长凯文·麦卡锡之后，他对盖兹尤其持批评态度，并预测盖兹不会得到参议院的批准。
“我只是觉得这很傻。我相信总统可能是在奖励他，因为他是总统如此忠诚的士兵，但总统足够聪明，他的团队足够聪明，知道盖兹先生永远不会得到参议院的批准。无论如何，”他说。“所以对他来说，这将是一段很长的时间，他将受到参议院两党议员的严厉批评，因为他从来没有团队精神，他从来没有帮助过这次会议。”
米勒说，“有两种不同类型的混乱”——特朗普带来了一种积极的混乱，但盖兹带来的混乱“打破了东西”。
Trump's Gaetz pick as AG triggers audible gasp among some congressional Republicans
Reaction among Republicans on Capitol Hill to President-elect Donald Trump'schoice of Matt Gaetzto be his attorney general on Wednesday ranged from shock to support.
Several House Republicans meeting behind closed doors said there was an audible gasp in the room when they heard Trump had picked Gaetz.
Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins was among those who said they were shocked, appearing to refer to Trump's demand that his nominees be done with recess appointments -- without Senate confirmation.
“This shows why the advice and consent process is so important, and I'm sure that there will be a lot of questions raised at his hearing,” Collins told reporters. “Obviously, the president has the right to nominate whomever he wishes, but I'm certain that there will be a lot of questions.”
Alaska GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who voted to find Trump guilty at his second impeachment trial during his first term, said "I don't think this is a serious nomination for the attorney general."
"We need to have a serious attorney general and I'm looking forward to the opportunity to consider somebody that is serious," she said. "This one was not on my bingo card.”
Gaetz faced a yearslong Justice Department investigation that began in 2019 into allegations related to sex trafficking and obstruction of justice. He has long denied any wrongdoing, and the Justice Department informed Gaetz in 2023 that it was declining to bring charges against him after its investigation.
But the Florida congressman still faces anongoing investigationby the House Ethics Committee regarding the same allegations.
House Speaker Mike Johnson announced Wednesday night that Gaetz had resigned from Congress effective immediately to "start the clock" on the process for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to call a special election to fill his vacancy. Gaetz's resignation will end the probe by the Ethics Committee, which does not investigate members after they have left Congress.
Republican Sen. Mike Rounds of South Dakota, asked if the ethics investigation concerned him, said, “Most certainly, it would be concerning because it would be a part of his file,” Rounds said..Rounds told reporters that he had "no reaction yet" whether Gaetz would be confirmed. Asked if he would vote to confirm, he said, “All I can really tell you right now is that we normally give the president the benefit of the doubt, but we still do our due diligence and advice and consent is still important."
GOP Sen. Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming was vague when asked for her opinion on Gaetz, telling reporters, “I haven’t even had a chance to think about it yet, it’s too new to me.”
Republican Sen. Mike Crapo of Idaho told ABC News that he didn't know Gaetz "so I'll have to dig into it." Asked if Gaetz could be confirmed, he said, "I have no idea, but I assume so."
Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, who, Trump had announced as his pick for secretary of state earlier in the day, had complimentary things to say about his fellow Floridian.
“I've known him for a long time, and again, I think the president is entitled to his team, and he's made his appointments," he said. "And so, I like Matt a lot. I know him very well, and I'm confident that if the Senate confirms him, he would do a good job. And again, the presidents are entitled to have the people that they want in these key positions to carry out the mandate that's been delivered to him by the voters of theUnited States.”
On the House side, Majority Leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana and House Ethics Committee Chairman Michael Guest, R-Miss., expressed support for Trump's pick. But Rep. Max Miller, R-Ohio, a former Trump aide who was particularly critical of Gaetz following his efforts to oust then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy last year, strongly disputed the choice, predicted Gaetz wouldn't be approved by the Senate.
“I just think it's silly. I believe that the president is probably rewarding him for being such a loyal soldier to the president, but the president is smart enough, and his team is smart enough, to know that Mr. Gaetz will never get confirmed by the Senate. Whatsoever," he said. "And so this is just going to be a very long period of time for him that he's going to get excoriated by members of the Senate on both sides of the aisle, because he's never been a team player, and he's never helped out this conference.”
Miller said that "there's two different types of chaos” -- saying Trump brings one that is positive but the one that Gaetz brings “breaks things.”
