Washington, Nov 14 (IANS): US President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday announced that he was nominating Matt Gaetz, a Republican Congressman from Florida as his pick for the next Attorney General with the task of ending the partisan weaponising of the Justice Department.
"Matt is a deeply gifted and tenacious attorney, trained at the William & Mary College of Law, who has distinguished himself in Congress through his focus on achieving desperately needed reform at the Department of Justice," Trump said in a statement.
"Few issues in America are more important than ending the partisan Weaponization of our Justice System. Matt will end Weaponized Government, protect our Borders, dismantle Criminal Organisations, and restore Americans' badly shattered Faith and Confidence in the Justice Department."
Gaetz responded on X, saying, "It will be an honour to serve as President Trump's Attorney General!"
The President-elect also noted that as a member of the House Judiciary Committee, which performs oversight of the Department of Justice, Gaetz played a key role in "defeating the Russia, Russia, Russia Hoax," referring to the investigation into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election to help Trump defeat Hillary Clinton.
If confirmed, Gaetz, 42, will become the 87th Attorney General and will lead a department of more than 100,000 people who investigate and prosecute violations of federal laws and oversee the Federal Bureau of Investigation. He has been a member of the House of Representatives since 2017.
The Congressman is likely to face questions during the confirmation process of an ongoing investigation by the bipartisan ethics committee of the House of Representatives.
In a confirmation process, said earlier in the year in an investigation if he "engaged in sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, accepted improper gifts, dispensed special privileges and favours to individuals with whom he had a personal relationship, and sought to obstruct government investigations of his conduct".
Gaetz's controversial tenure as Congressman includes bringing down Republican Speaker Kevin McCarthy along with a handful of Republican lawmakers and plunging the party in the House into crisis for days as it struggled to find a successor.