Former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) may not be what the Department of Justice needs, but he is exactly what it deserves, after abusing its power to pursue President Donald Trump and his supporters in flagrantly partisan prosecutions.
There are many reasons, of course, that Gaetz is a problematic pick. He has been under investigation by the House Ethics Committee. He has all sorts of strange associations. And he led the bizarre revolution against then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) in October 2023, after McCarthy had fulfilled his commitments to conservatives. It seemed to critics (including me) that Gaetz was out for his personal and political interests, not those of the party or the country.
And yet even if all of the worst things that are said about Gaetz are true, he would be an ideal pick to lead the DOJ, as long as he had a clear, narrow mandate to clear out the rot, starting with everyone who would refuse to work for him.
For nearly a decade — that we know of — the DOJ has operated as a law unto itself.
Attorney General Loretta Lynch met with former President Bill Clinton on a tarmac in Arizona while his wife, then-candidate Hillary Clinton, faced investigation for her mishandling of government emails and classified information as Secretary of State. Lynch left the prosecution decision to then-FBI director James Comey, who ripped Clinton in public but let her off the hook.
The FBI and DOJ were then willing partners in a Clinton campaign dirty trick, using the phony “Russia dossier,” a salacious and misleading opposition document prepared by a former British spy with alleged Kremlin ties. The FBI used the dossier to obtain a secret surveillance warrant to spy on a Trump campaign aide, then renewed the warrant after it was clear the “dossier” was fraudulent. The investigation became the basis for the false “Russia collusion” conspiracy theory, which was used in an effort to reverse the 2016 election and to undermine the new administration.
Comey used the “dossier” in an apparent attempt to intimidate Trump, then — before he was fired — leaked a memo documenting his meetings with the president to a professor, whom he later hired as his attorney. He later admitted his goal had been to trigger the appointment of a special counsel to probe Trump over “collusion” that did not exist.
Hardly anyone at DOJ was punished for their role — some were even paid for their trouble — and the department continued to abuse its power. After the Capitol riot of January 6, 2021, the DOJ did not simply target violent people but also those who simply strolled across the lawn, or entered the building through doors held open by police. It also prosecuted Trump aides Peter Navarro and Stephen K. Bannon for defying the preposterous January 6 Committee.
In contrast, the DOJ refused to prosecute activists who protested outside the homes of conservative Supreme Court justices, against the law. Meanwhile, the DOJ pursued spurious charges against Trump — even raiding his private residence — as it slow-walked investigations into President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter. It would have reached a sweetheart plea deal to hide the Biden family’s influence-peddling if not for the scrutiny of a Trump-appointed judge.
No matter who runs the DOJ under Trump, there has to be a complete overhaul. Every U.S. attorney, and almost every senior official, needs to be fired. Employees who try to undermine the democratically-elected administration should likewise be shown the door.
It is unclear if Gaetz, a rhetorical bomb-thrower in Congress and on social media, is the right man to build the DOJ back up again. But he is certainly the right man if his task is to demolish it first.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days, available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
