Trump's Gaetz appointment met with shock

We got to see very little of the meeting between President Joe Biden and president-elect Donald Trump at the White House.

A few sentences from each during the "room spray" at the start of the meeting when photographers and journalists are allowed into the Oval Office at the very start of a meeting.

"Welcome back" was the most memorable line from Joe Biden.

Trump left later, unseen by waiting reporters at the "stakeout" area at the West Wing portico, who had been expecting a few words from this most talkative of politicians. But no, nothing. A quiet and orderly transition of power is under way.

So back to business as usual? Oh no, not at all.

The wheels of Trump's jet had barely touched the tarmac in Palm Beach when he took to his social media network Truth Social to announce Florida congressman Matt Gaetz as his pick for Attorney General . And that has sent shock waves through Washington DC’s political establishment, Republican as well as Democratic.

First the job. Attorney General is possibly the most sensitive appointment in the Trump cabinet. It is always an important job for any president - running the Justice Department and its investigative arm, the FBI - making the critical decisions on sensitive prosecutions.

Whoever got the job was going to have to deal with the normal sensitivity of such a powerful position. But they were also going to be pitched into the peculiar circumstances of Donald Trump, who has been under investigation by the same Department of Justice - leading to criminal indictments obtained by Special Prosecutor Jack Smith over the election interference and classified documents cases.

Stymied by the Supreme Court and the ticking clock of the presidential election, those federal cases look dead and buried, with reports today that Smith is considering not only winding the cases up, but resigning from the Department of Justice before the Trump regime can fire him.

State election interference cases are still formally ongoing in Georgia, Arizona, Michigan and Nevada. Trump is a defendant in Georgia, and an unindicted co-conspirator cited in the others. In all cases, key members of his former administration stand accused; four people have entered guilty pleas in Georgia.

Vice president-elect JD Vance said before the election that the choice of Attorney General was going to be the most important pick for Trump. So who did he pick?

Matt Gaetz is one of the most controversial figures in the House of Representatives. Far out, fiery, combative, ultra MAGA. Often bracketed in the same small group as fellow representatives Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert.

Gaetz has co-sponsored (with Greene) a bill to impeach President Biden. He has also sought the impeachment of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas over border policy. He was a key player in the ejection of his own party leader in the House, Speaker Kevin McCarthy - and with that turmoil, the holding up of $60bn in aid for Ukraine.

He eventually voted against the Ukraine aid when the bill finally passed in April.

At the time, McCarthy had accused Gaetz of pressing the attack in order to distract from his own investigation by the House Ethics Committee, a process which has not yet concluded.

The investigation relates to allegations that Gaetz was involved in the trafficking of a minor - a 17-year-old girl - across state lines for sexual gratification. The matter was previously investigated by the Department of Justice and Trump’s own Attorney General, Bill Barr, who passed the job on to Biden’s AG, Merrick Garland.

The department decided not to prosecute in early 2023, due to concerns about witness reliability. It was then that the House of Representatives took up its own inquiry. Gaetz denies all the allegations.

A lawyer by trade, he is the son and grandson of politicians, and is well used to the rough and tumble of political life. He thrives on conflict and controversy. He was a dogged defender of Donald Trump in his legal travails, and loudly accused the administration of "weaponising" the Department of Justice to go after political enemies.

Now, the DC establishment fears that Gaetz will himself weaponise the very same Department of Justice to go after Trump's enemies. For Trump's supporters, this will amount to the defence of democracy.

They regard the prosecution of Trump and others, notably the 6 January 2021 rioters who attacked the US Congress building and the police guarding it, as a threat to democracy and freedom of speech.

These are the supporters who want to see Trump pardon those convicted, people the president-elect has frequently referred to as "political prisoners".

The new AG will also be expected to give legal "top cover" to Trump's plans to deport illegal migrants by making sure department employees do not throw grit in the wheels of the plan. They have been on notice from Trump advisors since at least early October that their jobs are on the line.

The Gaetz nomination has eclipsed, rather easily, the nomination of Fox News presenter Pete Hegseth to be the Secretary of Defense. Most criticism of Hegseth revolved around his lack of experience in the Pentagon.

A decorated war veteran, he served tours in Iraq and Afghanistan as a junior officer with the Minnesota National Guard, and has since been an active and able advocate for military veterans.

He is also vocal in his calls to sack top generals and admirals for being "woke" and weakening the US's war fighting capacity. He has the new Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff firmly in his sights.

Hegseth and Gaetz will have to undergo confirmation hearings and votes in the Senate unless Trump employs a controversial technique known as a recess appointment, to effectively bypass normal procedure, at least for two years.

Although the Republican Party has won control of the Senate comfortably, Trump may face headwinds in the upper chamber.

While Trump was meeting Biden at the White House, the Republican senators were meeting to vote on a new leader to replace Mitch McConnell, who had proved himself a thorn in Trump's side on several occasions.

Of the three contenders, Trump's pick was the first to go. In the final round, John Thune, the man the MAGA tendency has mobilised against, won. This provoked outrage among the MAGA faithful.

It may indicate that the senators intend keeping a more independent approach to the incoming administration, preserving their own power and constitutional role in the process.

Thune, who was chief whip, the number two to McConnell, seems to be more in the McConnell mould than the MAGA one.

And although the Republicans appear to have retained control of the House of Representatives as well, winning the bare majority of 218 seats, with seven still to declare, it is likely to be a very narrow majority, probably narrower than the outgoing, fractious house.

And because of Gaetz and two other nominations to the cabinet from the House, the Republican majority will be under threat, at least until special elections (like by-elections) are held to fill those seats.

So things may not be quite as plain sailing for the incoming Trump administration as it appears on the surface. Nevertheless the nomination of Gaetz shows Trump is feeling very confident.