In Congress, Donald Trump’s attorney general chose Matt Gaetz has been at the forefront of challenging the Justice Department and has been a staunch defender of the former president, hinting at the role the firebrand could play in remaking the troubled federal agency if he is confirmed.

Gaetz rose to prominence defending then-President Trump and mocking the Justice Department during the investigation into Russian collusion in the Trump campaign, appearing frequently on television and using her role on key committees to challenge the agency, which pushed ” Russian conspiracy” long debunked. narrative.

After Trump’s first term ended, the four-term congressman challenged the department’s handling of the Hunter Biden probe and the investigation into Trump’s assassination attempts.

President-elect Trump no doubt nominated Gaetz for those reasons, seeing him as an important defender and loyal ally to lead an agency he believed was undermining him at every turn in his first term.

But Gaetz will likely face an uphill confirmation battle, and his nomination has drawn skepticism from Senate Republicans, who will be key to confirming him in the role.

When false allegations that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia were made by Capitol Hill Democrats, Donald Trump’s first attorney general, former Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, angered the president when he recused himself and allowed the department to appoint a special counsel to investigate the situation. accusations.

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Rep. Matt Gaetz, along with representatives Jim Jordan and Devin Nunes have become the main critics of the investigation, and the defenders are President Trump and his administration.

During the investigation, he asked special counsel Robert Mueller to release any evidence of collusion obtained during his secret investigation. When the final report came in that the investigation found no evidence of collusion between Trump and Russia, Gaetz sharply criticized Mueller and pressed him in a hearing for answers about the underpinnings of his investigation.

Specifically, he criticized Mueller for his team’s apparent bias, which pursued shaky leads on Trump but failed to assess the veracity of information in the infamous — and now discredited — Steel Dossier.

“Here’s what I notice Director Mueller, when people associated with Trump lied, you threw the book at them. When Christopher Steele lied, nothing. So it seems that when Glenn Simpson met with the Russians, nothing. When Trump met with the Russians, 3500 words. And maybe the reason there are these discrepancies in what you focused on is because the team was so biased and promised resistance. And he vowed to stop Trump.” Gaetz told Mueller at the hearing.

After the Trump Justice Department appointed special counsel John Durham to investigate any wrongdoing in the Russia probe, Gaetz criticized him because, in his view, he failed to deliver a thorough investigation. “For people like the president who put their trust in you, I think you’ve let them down. I think you have let the country down. You are one of the barriers to real accountability that we need,” Gaetz told Durham during a hearing.

Congressional Democrats swept into power in 2019 and eventually launched the first impeachment against President Trump, accusing him of improperly pressuring Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to find political dirt on his opponent Joe Biden. Gaetz has once again become a key defender of Trump.

When Speaker Adam Schiff, D-Calif., who led the investigation, held secret hearings behind closed doors and out of public view in a SCIF — a classified information hearing facility — Gaetz gathered a group of House Republicans rush into the room and interrupt the hearings. The group of representatives complained about the “Soviet-style” process of dismissal. Schiff would later be censured by the House.

Ultimately, the impeachment effort failed when Senate Republicans voted to acquit the president.

After President Joe Biden took office in 2020, Gaetz continued his criticism of the Justice Department for what he called its unfair treatment of Jan. 6 protesters who entered the Capitol and for refusing to impeach Biden .

Garland’s DOJ fueled ‘conspiracy theories’

Earlier this year, Gaetz pressed Garland on several legal cases against Trump, asking the attorney general to provide communications between his office and local authorities that have indicted Trump. Specifically, Congress sought any communications between Garland’s DOJ and either Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg or Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.

Gaetz argued that any obstruction of the request would fuel the very “conspiracy theory” that Garland tried to ignore: that the Biden administration coordinated with local prosecutors in the Trump cases. “The offices you’re referring to are independent state offices…” Garland tried to answer.

“You come here and make this attack that it’s a conspiracy theory that there’s a coordinated law against Trump. And then we say, “Okay, give us the documents. Give us the correspondents and then, if it’s a conspiracy theory, there will be evidence,'” Gaetz chimed in. “But when you say, ‘Well, we’ll take your request and then we’ll work it through the DOJ accommodation process, then by you are actually advancing a very dangerous conspiracy. the theory you’re worried about,’” he continued.

Gaetz’s critical history with the Justice Department leaves little doubt that the now-former representative would seek to overhaul the agency and pursue the “revenge” on both the DOJ and the FBI that Donald Trump promised on the campaign trail .

“Fully Engaged”

The choice reportedly unsettled DOJ officials, particularly those involved in prosecutions against Trump, which have ended at the federal level as the former president prepares to take office again in January.

One thing Gaetz is almost certain to do is fully commit to implementing any Trump policies at the department, a mission that contrasts with his Republican successors, who have acted more independently of their chief executive.

Close Trump ally and transition team member Mark Paoletta said DOJ rank and file attorneys should be “fully committed to implementing President Trump’s policies or they should go or be fired” in a post for X.

Paoletta also warned that the new Trump team will not accept any attempt by federal bureaucrats to thwart the incoming administration’s agenda.

Gaetz appears to face a tougher confirmation than other nominees. Several Senate Republicans, needed to confirm the former representative, have expressed doubts about Gaetz’s ability to garner the necessary support in the chamber. Losing the support of more than three GOP senators would doom any of Trump’s nominees.

“Matt Gaetz simply has a very long and steep hill to cross the finish line,” said Senator Kevin CramerRN.C. “And it’s going to require spending a lot of capital, and you just have to ask: If you could get it across the finish line, was it worth the cost?”

“It will be very difficult” said Sen. Markwayne MullinR- Okla.

Some senators have expressed concern about the still-unknown findings of a House Ethics Committee investigation into Gaetz, which is said to involve sexual misconduct and allegations of illegal drug use. Gaetz has vehemently denied all the allegations that have been publicly reported. Now that Gaetz has resigned from the House, the committee no longer has jurisdiction to continue the investigation.

The President of the Committee, Rep. Michael Guest, R-Miss., said Thursday that the findings of the report will remain confidential. However, some senators say they want to see the ethics report before they vote on whether or not to confirm Gaetz.

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Tex., said he “absolutely” wants to see the findings. Sense. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Thom Tillis, RN.C., both he told NBC News that they believe the findings will emerge in one way or another and be related to the confirmation process.