Former President Donald Trump's decision to choose Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) for attorney general was not simply a question of selecting a loyalist, said CNN's Kaitlan Collins on Wednesday. In fact, it was a move made out of desperation — as Trump couldn't find candidates he liked for the role.
"I think today is sending shockwaves through, certainly Capitol Hill," said Collins. "What we're hearing from more moderate mainstream Republicans is not this fervent outrage over what was happening with Susie Wiles as chief of staff, Marco Rubio, which was confirmed today as secretary of state, Mike Waltz as national security adviser. That has shifted, and you're seeing the reaction on Capitol Hill to people Trump was always inclined to pick. People that are fiercely loyal to him. And really that has been the number one qualification."
Trump hasn't even given any thought to whether these candidates can be confirmed, she said.
"If a nominee can't get confirmed in this Senate," she told fellow anchor Jake Tapper, "for a Republican president with 53 Republican senators, it's really saying something. And so that is going to be the next step here. I will say, one thing I've heard as I've been reporting on this is that maybe this is a chess move by Donald Trump to put some of the more fiery picks out there, to where the other picks can all get confirmed. Maybe not all of these will. That's not the thinking."
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"There's no chess?" asked Tapper.
"No, he actually wants these people in these positions," confirmed Collins. "And with attorney general and [Department of Defense] specifically — what I have heard was with attorney general, I reported last night on my show that Trump wasn't happy with all of the options that had been brought to him. He had had several in-person interviews with the candidates on the shortlist. One of them was described as disastrous. He did not like any of them."
"Which one?" asked Tapper. "Can you tell me?"
"No, I'll work on that," said Collins. "And so essentially at a point last night where he had no attorney general pick. So here we are. That's how quickly he made this decision."
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