CNN panelists clashed over the qualifications of Donald Trump's second choice for attorney general after Matt Gaetz quickly flamed out amid an ethics scandal.
The president-elect nominated former Florida attorney general Pam Bondi, a 2020 election denier and frequent Fox News guest, to head the Department of Justice after Gaetz withdrew in the face of sex trafficking allegations detailed in an as-yet unreleased report by the House Ethics Committee.
"I don't want to attribute any strategy to the president-elect here, but it is kind of genius to put Matt Gaetz out there as sort of a stalking horse, and anybody who put up after that is going to look reasonable," said Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank. "So I think a little bit of that is what's happening here. I mean, overall, he's set up it's largely a vanity project, right? It's an administration full of loyalists, it's a lot of Fox News contributors. So in a vacuum, I think we'd be saying wow, I mean, none of these guys seem to have any particular relevant experience for the job but, you know, I mean, as somebody who's worried about what the Trump administration may be doing, I'm saying, 'Well, thank God for that, because there's not necessarily a whole lot of competence but he should get loyalists."
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Republican strategist Brad Todd argued that all presidents gravitated toward loyalists, but former White House communications director Kate Bedingfield said Bondi stood out in her devotion to Trump.
"She absolutely benefits from not being Matt Gaetz," said Bedingfield, who served under president Joe Biden. "I mean, you want to follow the person who, you know, went down in flames, you know, that you're just you're going to benefit by comparison. But I don't think we should lose sight of the fact, I mean, she was an ardent 2020 election denier. I mean, there are still fundamental questions about whether somebody being appointed to run the Justice Department should be somebody who's willing to just blatantly lie on behalf of the president, and so, you know yes, obviously, Matt Gaetz's character flaws, shall we say, and complete lack of experience for the job makes her look better by comparison. But she is still somebody who has been willing to just lie when Trump asked her to, and that's, I think, that should be of concern to people."
Host Kasie Hunt asked Todd, the GOP strategist, whether an attorney general, who is presumed to be independent, should be loyal to the president, and she wondered what was the difference between loyalty and fealty.
"Wait a minute, though," Todd said. "I mean, Pam Bondi has been the attorney general of one of the largest states in the country, one of the most – and Florida is an active state in multi-state litigation. Like, she has a long track record here."
Hunt broke in, saying she wasn't questioning Bondi's experience but instead scrutinizing her character, but Todd said GOP senators would not likely be concerned about her views on Trump's election lies and criminal prosecutions.
"I think every Republican senator, all 53, expect the attorney general to go to the Department of Justice and make heads roll," Todd said. "I mean, Republicans do not think this agency currently is functioning in a nonpartisan, neutral way, and justice must be neutral. So I think that absolutely, you hope Pam Bondi goes over there and does what Donald Trump wants, which is to clean house."
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