By FRITZ PETTYJOHN
Lisa Murkowski is itching to vote against Republican firebrand Rep. Matt Gaetz as U.S. Attorney General. She may not get the chance. If the new Senate leadership recesses the Senate for three days, Gaetz can take office as a recess appointment, circumventing the confirmation process. It remains to be seen if Senate Majority Leader Thune will play ball.
The Gaetz appointment is a giant middle finger to those in the Department of Justice who have harassed Trump since before he took office in 2017. It started with the Russia hoax, and it’s been going on, nonstop, for eight years. The final straw came when the FBI raided Mar-a-Lago, including searching Melania’s closet, purportedly looking for evidence of a crime.
Trump will not allow this invasion of his wife’s privacy will not go unavenged. Heads will roll down the entire change of command which was responsible for this travesty. If these people are smart, they’re already packing their bags.
If Thune refuses to allow a recess appointment , it’s highly unlikely Gaetz can be confirmed. If that’s the case, Trump’s replacement appointment, regardless of who it is, will look reasonable by comparison.
Gaetz also serves to distract attention from other controversial appointments, such as Pete Hegseth for Secretary of the Department of Defense.
The Department of Justice is infused with arrogance. These people think their loyalty is to their ideas about the law, not to the democratically elected President who appoints them.
As the execrable James Comey put it in the title of his book, they have “A Higher Loyalty.”
But the courts decide the law, not the Department of Justice. They are the president’s lawyers and are obliged to advocate for him. President Trump, with his appointment of Gaetz, is putting these people in their place.
It’s pleasant to think that this is just the beginning of four years of fearless leadership.
Fritz Pettyjohn’s first venture in politics was working for Barry Goldwater for president in 1964. He served in the Alaska Legislature in the 1980s and writes the blog ReaganProject.com.
