• Trump’s nomination of Matt Gaetz for US Attorney General is a controversial choice.
• Gaetz’s appointment will need Senate confirmation and could be difficult to secure.
• GOP lawmakers who are otherwise loyal to the president-elect are already targeting Gaetz.

In the midst of an attention-grabbing streak cabinet electionsperhaps no choice has drawn more attention than President-elect Donald Trump’s decision to make nominates GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida as the next US Attorney General.

Gaetz is a polarizing figure, even within the Republican Party.

His appointment will require Senate confirmation, and while Republicans will hold the Senate majority, several GOP lawmakers have already signaled they are less than happy with the controversial pick.

While other nominees — such as former Democratic congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard for the Director of National Intelligence and Fox News host Pete Hegseth for Secretary of Defense — have raised eyebrows, Gaetz stands out as a choice Republicans seem eager to criticize.

Gaetz was previously submitted allegations of sex traffickingwhich came after the Department of Justice opened an investigation into him in April 2021.

Although the agency ultimately declined to press charges, Gaetz was until recently investigated by the Ethics Committee of the Chamber. However, his sudden resignation from the House after his appointment on Wednesday means the committee no longer has jurisdiction to investigate him. according to The New York Times.

Further complicating his support among Republicans, Gaetz, too led the charge to oust Kevin McCarthy as Speaker of the House last year, a move that led to significant friction within the party.

Even some Trump loyalists expressed surprise at Gaetz’s nomination.

Senator Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma

Mullin is a staunch Trump supporter who has backed his baseless claims about a stolen 2020 election and even been rumored as a potential cabinet choice.

But that didn’t stop him from offering less than full support for Gaetz’s nomination.

Appearing on CNN, he said: “Matt Gaetz and I, there’s no question we’ve had our differences.”

While expressing confidence in Trump’s “decision-making on this,” Mullin said Gaetz will have to make his case to the Senate.

“There are a lot of questions that will be there,” he told CNN. “He has to answer those questions, and hopefully he can answer those questions correctly, and if he can, we’ll go through the confirmation process.”

These differences refer to comments Mullin made on CNN last year, around the time Gaetz brought a motion to remove McCarthy.

Mullin said, “There’s a reason no one in Congress has come forward to defend” Gaetz in the wake of the sex-trafficking allegations.

He went on to claim that Gaetz would brag about his sexual escapades on the House floor.

Senator Kevin Cramer of North Dakota

Cramer, a staunch Trump supporter since endorsing him early in his 2016 campaign, expressed surprise at Gaetz’s nomination.

According to Ramsey Touchberry of the Washington Examiner, Cramer was surprised by Gaetz’s choice.

“It’s a whoop yeah,” Cramer said, after Touchberry’s X message. “Huh, I don’t know what to make of that.”

Minnesota Monthly describes “ugh yeah” as implying “exhaustion, frustration, confusion, surprise and mild revulsion.”

Answering questions from CBS News reporter Cristina Corujo, Cramer said Gaetz’s nomination was a “surprise” and an “interesting choice.”

He also said he doesn’t know Gaetz very well and believes he has the academic credentials, but said he was concerned about how he “handled the feud with President McCarthy. I thought it wasn’t necessary, I thought it was divisive.”

Senator John Cornyn of Texas

Cornyn, another trusted Trump ally, also seemed shocked by Gaetz’s choice.

According to Punchbowl News reporter Samantha Handler, he let out an “audible snort” when asked about it.

Alex Bolton, writer for The Hill, said in a post X that a “look of surprise or shock” flashed across Cornyn’s face “as if he had tasted something strange” when asked about Gaetz.

Cornyn told HuffPost reporter Arthur Delaney: “I don’t know the man apart from his public persona.”

According to Max Cohenanother Punchbowl News reporter, Cornyn was asked about Gaetz’s status as the subject of a House Ethics investigation.

“Well, that could come up,” Cornyn told reporters.

Rep. Max Miller from Ohio

While he won’t be able to vote for Gaetz, Miller had some choice words about his fellow Republican lawmaker.

The GOP congressman, who previously did praised Trump as “the greatest POTUS this country has ever had,” CNN’s Haley Talbot said that Gaetz is “a guy who is literally worse than the gum on the bottom of my shoe.”

Per TalbotMiller also accused Gaetz of ruining the country and said he “ran around here last semester like a six-year-old with a loaded revolver and a trigger-happy finger.”