'Why?' Legal expert challenges conservative over Trump's 'woefully unqualified' nomination
A conservative commentator expressed doubts that Donald Trump could get MAGA loyalist Matt Gaetz confirmed as attorney general, and a legal analyst asked why the president-elect had chosen the "woefully unqualified" former congressman in the first place.
Trump tapped the Florida Republican, who immediately gave up his congressional seat as the House Ethics Committee prepared to release a report on his conduct with teenage girls, and CNN's Scott Jennings said the choice showed the newly elected president was feeling confident.
"Gaetz right now is below the line, and that raises the question whether this sets up a whole showdown with his own party, Trump's own party over recess appointments and how you get the Senate into recess long enough to make a recess appointment," Jennings said. "To me this signals one thing: Donald Trump is feeling his oats. He doesn't feel he has to negotiate with anybody over these Cabinet picks, is fully confident in what he is doing and meant everything he said about not just about shaking up Washington, but blowing up Washington, D.C. I think he feels like he was elected to do things like this. Like, if the Washington people are happy with me, that's wrong, and if they're unhappy with me, I must be doing something right."
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Legal analyst Elie Honig, who served as an assistant U.S. attorney general for eight years, questioned what Gaetz's nomination meant about Trump's plans to govern.
"To me the Gaetz nomination tells us something bigger about what Donald Trump's planning to do," Honig said. "Start from this premise, tell me if you disagree. Matt Gaetz is woefully unqualified to be attorney general of the United States – everyone agree?"
The other panelists seemed to concede his point, although host Kasie Hunt said she must remain an objective reporter on the issue.
"He's barely practiced law for a couple of years but never been a prosecutor for one day," Honig said.
Jennings, however, argued that a person was qualified for attorney general if a president nominated them and the Senate confirmed them.
"To be sure, elections have consequences – you win, you get to try get your person," Honig said. "Just on paper, prosecutorially, not qualified. So then why? Why are we nominating something not qualified? I think we saw a clip earlier, he said, 'We're going to blow it all up, we're going to get rid of the DEA.' He doesn't even know what that means, get rid of the DEA. Do we care about enforcing drug laws at the border? He's over his head! Why would Trump choose somebody over his head?"
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