By: Shawn Fleetwood
Some of the conservative movement’s biggest names endorsed Matt Gaetz to become America’s next attorney general on Tuesday, giving the Florida congressman a major boost following his nomination to the position last week.
“Under the tenure of Biden’s Attorney General Merrick Garland, the Department of Justice (DOJ) has become a rabidly partisan, politically weaponized agency used by the president to wage lawfare against his political opponents. The agency is urgently in need of reform,” the Tuesday statement signed by dozens of prominent conservative leaders reads. “We believe Matt Gaetz can and will do a superb job of returning the agency to its proper role of impartially representing the American justice system.”
The signees of the official endorsement include former Sen. Jim DeMint, Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts, Citizens United President David Bossie, and Media Research Center Founder and President Brent Bozell. Conservative Partnership Insitute Senior Fellow Cleta Mitchell, Tea Party Patriots Citizen Fund Chair Jenny Beth Martin, and Becky Norton Dunlop — who served as an adviser to President Ronald Reagan — are also listed as signatories.
Since being tapped by President-elect Trump to serve as attorney general for his second administration, Gaetz has come under increasing attacks from some of Washington, D.C.’s worst offenders.
Former National Security Adviser John Bolton told NewsNation last week the FBI should be deployed to investigate Gaetz and incoming Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard before they’re considered by the Senate to, as The Hill later summarized it, “send a message to China that the U.S. is serious about its national security.”
“I don’t think either [Gabbard] or Matt Gaetz ought to have a confirmation hearing until they have both had full-field FBI investigations,” Bolton said. “And then I think the Chinese would say, ‘Maybe they are serious.’”
Meanwhile, Texas Sen. John Cornyn — who lost his bid to become Republicans’ next Senate majority leader — signaled last week that he would attempt to sabotage Gaetz’s nomination based on an unsubstantiated hoax implicating the Florida congressman in allegations involving child sex trafficking. As The Federalist’s Mollie Hemingway recently reported, however, the Justice Department “dropped its investigation into the same claims” about Gaetz years ago “on the grounds that the two central witnesses had serious credibility issues.”
“Yet these are the same two central witnesses the House Ethics Committee has relied on for its critical report of Gaetz — the same report it is leaking to compliant reporters as part of a coordinated effort to thwart his nomination as President-elect Donald Trump’s next attorney general,” Hemingway wrote.
In their statement “strongly support[ing]” Gaetz’s nomination and “urg[ing]” the Senate to “swift[ly]” confirm him as attorney general, the aforementioned conservative leaders highlighted how the Florida Republican “has routinely been aggressive and prepared for his constitutional role in Congress, overseeing the Department of Justice from his seat on the House Judiciary Committee.” They further praised Gaetz for using his position to conduct proper oversight of the DOJ and noted that he “has been the most active member of the House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, appearing at more depositions and transcribed interviews, and in more hearings, than any other member.”
“Matt Gaetz has demonstrated the tenacity, courage, and intellect required to manage the DOJ competently and effectively–and most importantly, he has the trust of President-elect Trump to carry out this task,” the statement reads. “We firmly support him in this mission. The Senate must confirm him without delay.”
Shawn Fleetwood is a staff writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He previously served as a state content writer for Convention of States Action and his work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics, RealClearHealth, and Conservative Review. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood