Since November 13th when Trump selected Matt Gaetz (Florida House Representative and Loyal Trump Supporter) to be Attorney General, he has met fierce criticism from his fellow senators and was not confirmed. He has been accused of attending Sex Parties, taking illegal drugs, and having sex with a minor, and these aren't new allegations. The U.S. House Ethics Committee, one of the many committees in the House which focuses on keeping the House uncorrupt and its representatives in check, started an investigation into Matt Gaetz all the way back in 2021. Only now they were ready to release it, but to their dismay Gaetz withdrew from the House when he was nominated, meaning they could no longer release it.
However, this report still threatened Gaetz as rumors spread of what the report contained, causing what Gaetz and Trump have called a "distraction" from Trump's election win. Even after the report was blocked from being released to the public by House Republicans, Matt Gaetz chose to resign today. We can assume they were afraid of this report coming back to haunt them in the future.
This whole process of nomination has illustrated our government's checks and balances well. We have been given proof that even though the Republican Party has won the Trifecta (Majority in both houses of congress and Presidency), congress is not willing to let Trump get away with anything. Trump's original strategy and still something he may try to get his nominees through without confirmation of congress is something called Recess Appointments. These recess appointment allow the president to nominate and confirm while the congress is not in session, a power used in the past when congress wasn't in session all year round. Some people confuse these to be temporary, however they last until congress next adjourns or the next midterm election two years from now. This means that if the Senate agreed to recess, Trump could appoint whoever he wants for the next two years.
Luckily, Congress seems to be pushing back against this abuse of power, wanting to reserve the power of confirmation to themselves and it seems this scheme will not work.
Interestingly enough this isn't something only Trump has tried to pull but also something done by many past presidents (See graph below). Eventually during Obama's presidency this constant abuse of power lead to the supreme court decision requiring that the Congress had to be out of session for 10 days in a row in order for recess appointment to be made, which is why in recent years Recess Appointments have not been made.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-senate-recess-appointment-controversial-cabinet-picks/
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/20/us/politics/matt-gaetz-house-ethics-report.html
https://www.vox.com/2014/6/26/5843366/recess-appointments-supreme-court
13 comments:
The withdrawal of Matt Gaetz as Trump’s Attorney General candidate highlights the role of ethics in politics. Leaders must face accountability, especially for a role as grand as Attorney General. I find that in this case, the report was a sign of accountability and Gaetz did not want to face it. It seems like something in his background may bring many questions. What is interesting is the Supreme Court’s 2014 ruling on recess appointments. It concluded that former President Obama’s recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Board were unconstitutional. Really this means that the executive power was checked, a sign that checks and balances work. In both these cases, preserving integrity is crucial. The report on Gaetz only gathers suspicions of his wrongdoings. Moving forward, there should probably be some sort of change or reform to resolve ethical issues before someone can advance to the nomination stage. This sort of change would strengthen trust between politicians and the people.
Historically, Congress as a whole has also hated giving out recess appointments, as although it may be hard for Congress to come to a compromise on policies and nominations and other things of that nature, the Senate likes having power and dislikes their power and "say" in the government being trampled by the President. With that in mind, it is no wonder that Mitch McConnell, the current "Senate Minority Leader" Republican who has disagreed with Trump time and time again, has stated that "there will be no recess appointments" for Trump's cabinet.
This has the possibility to disrupt Trump's agenda of cabinet nominees. Although the Republicans hold a substantial majority in the Senate (53-47 (45 + 2) where the +2 comes from Bernie Sanders and Angus King who are "Independents" yet heavily align with the Democratic party), a mere 3 votes can flip the balance. Given the nature of the nominees as well as moderate republicans (such as Lisa Murkowski (R-AK)), there is the potential that some members will object to Trump's cabinet appointments and thus derail his agenda.
This case is probably unlikely however as most Senators like keeping their jobs and thus are much more inclined to vote with the party as a whole. Furthermore, Mr. McConnell himself is stepping down from being the Minority Leader (or soon-to-be Majority Leader) position, and thus his actions only have significant effect for the next 2 months. The new Senate leader, John Thune (R-SD), has also stated that he is "open" to recess appointments, and Trump himself has put pressure on the GOP (Republican Party) so that the Senate Majority Leader will allow Trump's recess appointments.
As always, the future is simply in a fog somewhere and although I'm not optimistic, we'll simply have to see what the future holds.
By resigning, Gaetz successfully avoided having the report come to light. The fact that he would be willing to give up his position and not continue with the process to get on Trump's cabinet are a clear sign that there were incriminating things that were in that report, and Gaetz didn't want to risk them being public. If he had truly done nothing wrong, there would be no point in trying to avoid the report. On a broader scale, I think that Trump will use this attempted appointment as a way to test what he can get through congress. Who ever he appoints next for the attorney general position, he gets to argue that "well at least they don't have sexual assault allegations" making the nominee seem like a better choice and possibly helping the nomination get through.
I also would like to comment on where you say that "congress is not willing to let Trump get away with anything." I disagree with this statement because while it might the case in this session of congress, it won't apply once the new session starts and the Republicans actually take hold of their majority. Once they have that control, Trump will most likely be able to do whatever he wants relating to cabinet appointments, whether that be through actual conformations or using recess appointments.
The withdrawal of Trumps appointed attorney general, Matt Gaetz, illustrates how Trump lacks common sense. Despite an investigation being underway since 2021 on House Representative from Florida, Matt Gaetz, Trump lacked critical thinking skills and appointed him as attorney general. The investigation was ran by the US House Ethics committee, a prime example of the checks and balances placed upon every branch, or segment, of the government. If Gaetz had not been investigated for ethics violations, no one would’ve known he had a background of sex and drug crimes. Gaetz would have been appointed the prime representative of US public interests. To add to the situation, as soon as the committee was finished with their report on Gaetz, he withdrew from the house, making the committee unable to release the report on an ex-member. This exemplifies the fact that Gaetz was guilty and attempting to cover it up. Overall this situation made the executive branch look incompetent while the Legislative branch successfully checked the abuse of power. In recent news, Trump has chosen Pam Bondi to replace Gaetz as attorney general nominee, another Florida Representative. Bondi had previously worked to defend Trump in his impeachment trial. The common theme with both Gaetz and Bondi is a strong loyalty to Donald Trump since his 2016 office takeover. Assuming she will success my be appointed, It will be interesting to see how Bondi treats those who previously fought against her to impeach the then president Donald Trump.
LET'S GOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Glad to see that certain members of the Republican Party still have a line that they're not willing to cross. I think that this was a test to see how far the Republican Party would go and now his other extremist, less name-recognizable picks will float through because a battle has already been fought here. I also really do wonder what's in that Ethics report because it had to have been relatively incriminating; I also wonder what's in the future for Gaetz in terms of his political service, I personally think he's dead in the water and will likely pivot into private but we'll see if he makes a return. This was a test of loyalty that some Republican members might not have necessarily passed, and all of this really is just somewhat related to the spoils system and giving his supporters roles, even if they may not be qualified or even rational picks.
This controversy takes on another perspective when considering Marjorie Taylor Greene’s recent tweet threatening to expose ethics reports of the rest of the Republican party. Greene’s comments suggest that Gaetz’s failed nomination, and the prospect of releasing his ethics reports is a betrayal to Trump and the party, and those who go against Trump could face serious repercussions. This points at a deeper strategy of keeping Republican members aligned and ensuring that they vote along party lines in the future. However, I am also curious to see if this leads to future tensions within the Republican Party over ethical dilemmas.
The choice to appoint Matt Gaetz in insane and reflects horribly (even further) on Trump's campaign , the excuse of saying Gaetz's controversy is simply to distract from Trump's win is embarrassing. At this point, it seems like Trump can break as many laws, say anything, and appoint criminals with little to no backlash from his supporters or even the media beyond simple and short lived coverage. I don't know if this is the sexual misconduct mentioned in the article but Matt Gaetz was being investigated for sex trafficking. It is crazy that he could have been the Attorney General when he was being investigated for a horrible crime that would've given him significant prison time. I am glad that Gaetz and Trump faced some reality with Gaetz withdrawing as to not face further consequences. It's nice to see that not all criminals are allowed to enter office.
I'm curious as to what this whole controversy means for Matt Gaetz career in politics. In an interview conducted by Charlie Kirk, Gaetz motioned that he plans to continue advocating for Trump, but what does that exactly mean? He's already under so much fire because of these allegations that I doubt he will ever step foot in Congress ever again. As a cover up for this mess of a shabang, Gaetz said he had other goals in life, like attending to his family--a classic excuse by politicians to downplay any accusations thrown at them. As to how this ordeal reflects upon Trump's scheme to take control of the government, there looks to be much resistance against his actions--this being a good example of that. Despite what many people have been thinking, the idea of checks and balances still prevails in U.S. government to prevent instances like this and to bring unbalanced parts to an equilibrium. I just hope Congress continues to continue this pattern of resistance as to prevent an abuse of power from the executive branch in the upcoming four years.
This situation demonstrates the importance of checks and balances within the U.S. government. Even with a Republican-controlled Congress and presidency, the resistance to Gaetz's appointment shows that partisan loyalty does not always override institutional integrity. However, it’s troubling that House Republicans blocked the release of the Ethics Committee report. This raises questions about the extent to which party interests can shield individuals from accountability. What mechanisms could be strengthened to ensure transparency in such cases?Trump's contemplation of using recess appointments underscores a recurring tension in the use of executive powers. While the strategy is constitutionally permissible, its potential for abuse has long been a concern. The Supreme Court's 2014 ruling requiring a 10-day recess for such appointments to be valid was a step toward curbing this power, but the loophole remains. Should Congress explore additional safeguards to prevent recess appointments from being exploited, especially in hyper-partisan environments?
The fact that somebody with all of these allegations can even be considered to become attorney general is appalling. I am glad and relieved that Congress has asserted that Trump will not get his way with everything, and that the threat of releasing the report was enough to let Gaetz to withdraw. America as a country, should note that the fact that Gaetz resigned in order for these not to be released, speaks volumes over anything that could have been released. I agree with Aiden when they said this is about accountability, and it is visible that Gaetz has none when it comes to owning up to past actions. The term “abuse of power” is so fitting, and will carry on to the rest of Trump’s election. This event not only speaks loudly on Gaetz, but also onto Trump and who he wants supporting him. The people that Trump surrounds himself, including himself, have been found guilty or accused of multiple crimes. One that both Trump himself and Gaetz has found themselves accused of is sexual misconduct.
I find this post very interesting because it highlights not only the nomination process which Trump chooses but also shows the check and balance system in action. The situation with Matt Gaetz, who faces many accusations, just highlights the check and balance system built into the government. It’s very concerning that Trump tried to get away with nominating a man who has all these allegations of doing very illegal and overall horrible things. Gaetz's resignation only emphasizes how guilty he is and how he fears the future of his career if he stays in the place that he was. But what's even worse is that both he and Trump knew the truth yet still decided to get away with this. The only good thing about this situation is how Congress reacted to this. They pushed back on Trump’s nomination because they knew that this wouldn’t be the best thing for the people. Through their action, congress is showing that they won’t accept everything Trump does which relieves a lot of our worries as a country.
I think that the recent release of the House ethics report reinforces the idea of how important it is that Matt Gaetz isn’t the attorney general, and is an important display that the American government does need to have some show of morals in the people who run it. Especially in Trump’s reelection, many Americans discarded any sense of empathy or morality in voting for someone who, even when putting all politics aside, is not a good person. This idea has continuously appeared in many of Trump’s cabinet appointments, and the fact that Matt Gaetz has been proven to have used cocaine, ecstasy, and had sex with a minor is incredibly concerning in terms of who is running our country. However, the fact that Gaetz resigned before further consideration indicates that there is some morality in how our country is run — a good sign that politics and empathy haven’t completely unraveled and separated in our country.
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