Matt Gaetz might not have enough support to be confirmed as attorney general by his Republican colleagues in the Senate, MSNBC’s Ari Melber said Wednesday, because the “raw math of White House politics” appears stacked against him.
This is in large part, he explained, due to his own “attacks on most Republicans” who are now asked to endorse Trump’s selection for attorney general.
Gaetz’s potential confirmation is causing waves throughout Washington D.C., Melber further explained.
“Republicans [are] struggling to face and release the facts that they gathered about one of their own, attorney general nominee Matt Gaetz,” Melber said, referring to the findings of the House Ethics Committee investigation into sex trafficking and drug use allegations against the former Florida congressman. “Republicans basically now trying to see if they can get away with hiding their report regarding allegations against him.”
Watch the full segment from MSNBC’s “The Beat” below:
Members of the GOP “met in secret” at the House Ethics Committee Wednesday, Melber added, but chairman Michael Guest then shared some details of the meeting with reporters — something that “apparently breaches the protocol where the process is supposed to be fully confidential until and unless these written materials about Gaetz are themselves released.”
The committee has “jurisdiction over its own work” and could “send these findings confidentially to the Senate.” The problem, Melber continued, “is whether Republicans think these findings are so bad for Gaetz and Trump and for their own process that they’d actually rather take heat over being secretive than take heat over whatever’s in there.”
Despite Vice President-elect JD Vance’s attempts today to reach out to senators in hopes that they will confirm Gaetz, it’s becoming clear that the odds are against him. At least five senators “lean against Gaetz,” Melber said, and though “they may not want to begin the new era crossing Trump on a high profile matter … the objections are reportedly well even beyond the ethics issues I just told you about.”
Trump is said to be aware of the growing movement against Gaetz, the New York Times reported, and has made phone calls to hesitant senators in a bid to change their minds. The prevailing thought behind those calls appears to be that if Gaetz isn’t confirmed, anyone else Trump recommends will be because the bar will have fallen so far. Trump’s personal lawyer Todd Blanche, who is his choice for deputy attorney general, could be his back-up if Gaetz’s appointment fails.
You can watch the clip from “The Beat” in the video above.
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