US president-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday announced that he had tapped US Representative Matt Gaetz as his attorney-general and former US representative Tulsi Gabbard as his director of national intelligence. He also confirmed reports that US Senator Marco Rubio would be his nominee for secretary of state.
Gaetz’s selection was seen as a shock. The Florida lawmaker was not among those who had been mentioned as contenders for the job and even his colleagues in the US Congress appeared stunned by the news that he would head the US Department of Justice (DOJ).
“Everybody was saying: ‘Oh my God,’” US Representative Mike Simpson said. “That was about as big a surprise as I’ve had in a long time.”
Photo: Reuters
Gaetz resigned from his House seat on Wednesday evening.
Trump announced the decision in a post on Truth Social, saying that Gaetz would “root out the systemic corruption at DOJ, and return the Department to its true mission of fighting Crime, and upholding our Democracy and Constitution.”
Gabbard helped prepare Trump for his debate against US Vice President Kamala Harris in the leadup to the election.
Photo: AFP
The former Democratic lawmaker announced her switch to the Republican Party at a Trump rally shortly before last week’s vote.
Gabbard served in the US Army National Guard for more than two decades, deploying to Iraq and Kuwait.
Rubio, a onetime critic who evolved into one of Trump’s fiercest defenders, is a hawk on China, Cuba and Iran, and was a finalist to be Trump’s running mate this summer.
Photo: AP
On Capitol Hill, Rubio is the vice chairman of the US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and a member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.
He has pushed for taking a harder line against China and has targeted social media app TikTok because its parent company is Chinese.
He and other lawmakers say that Beijing could demand access to the data of users whenever it wants.
Photo: AFP
“He will be a strong Advocate for our Nation, a true friend to our Allies, and a fearless Warrior who will never back down to our adversaries,” Trump said of Rubio in a statement.
CNN in an interview asked Rubio about his disagreements with Trump when they were both contesting the Republican presidential primary in 2016.
“That is like asking a boxer why they punched somebody in the face in the third round,” Rubio told CNN. “It’s because they were boxing.”
Trump made the personnel announcements while flying back to Florida from Washington after meeting with US President Joe Biden, during which they shook hands in front of a roaring fire in the Oval Office.
“Welcome back,” Biden said as he congratulated Trump on his election win and pledged a smooth transfer of power.
Biden said that he would do “everything we can to make sure you’re accommodated.”
Meanwhile, Republicans have won enough seats to control the US House of Representatives.
A House Republican victory in Arizona, alongside a win in California earlier on Wednesday, gave the party the 218 House victories that make up the majority.
Republicans earlier gained control of the Senate from Democrats.
Trump rallied House Republicans at a Capitol Hill hotel on Wednesday morning, his first return to Washington since the election.
“I suspect I won’t be running again unless you say: ‘He’s good, we got to figure something else,’” Trump told the lawmakers, who laughed in response.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, who won the Republican Conference’s nomination to stay on as speaker next year, has talked of taking a “blowtorch” to the federal government and its programs, eyeing ways to overhaul programs championed by Democrats.
“Republicans in the House and Senate have a mandate,” Johnson said earlier this week. “The American people want us to implement and deliver that ‘America First’ agenda.”
In the Senate, US Senator John Thune won an internal election to replace US Senator Mitch McConnell as the party’s leader in the chamber.
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