Trump picks Matt Gaetz for attorney general, Marco Rubio for secretary of state
President-elect Donald Trump says he will nominate Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida to serve as his attorney general, opting for a loyalist who has built a national reputation as a disruptor and has vowed to dramatically overhaul the Justice Department
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump chose Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida to serve as his attorney general on Wednesday, bypassing more experienced options in favor of a loyalist who has built a national reputation as a disruptor and whom Trump has tasked with dramatically overhauling the Justice Department.
Trump also announced that he had tapped Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida as his nominee for secretary of state. And he selected Tulsi Gabbard, a former Democratic member of Congress and presidential candidate, to serve as his director of national intelligence.
The choices continued a pattern of Trump stocking his Cabinet with those he believes he can trust to execute his agenda rather than longtime officials with experience in their fields. Gaetz's selection, in particular, was seen as a shock. The Florida lawmaker was not among the more established attorneys who had been mentioned as contenders for the job, and even his colleagues in Congress appeared stunned by the news.
“Everybody was saying, ‘Oh my God,’" said Republican Rep. Mike Simpson of Idaho. “That was about as big a surprise as I’ve had in a long time."
