Trump Source Tells CNN Gaetz Picked Because He Will ‘Burn Justice Department Down From The Inside’
A Trump source told CNN’s Mark Preston that President-elect Donald Trump picked former Congressman Matt Gaetz (R-FL) to be attorney general because he will “burn the DOJ (Department of Justice) down from the inside.”
The selection of Matt Gaetz to be Trump’s attorney general was met with near-universal shock Wednesday for many reasons, not the least of which is the cloud of scandal that saw Gaetz resign just in time to head off the publication of a House Ethics Committee report.
Even Trumpworld is projecting Gaetz as a destructive force who, as The Bulwark’s Marc Caputo reported, will “start cuttin’ fuckin’ heads.”
On Thursday’s edition of CNN News Central, Preston revealed to anchor Sara Sidner that a Trump source had just fed him another violently aggressive quote on the Gaetz pick:
SARA SIDNER: Mark, the question of the morning is whether Gaetz could get confirmed. And the answer among Republicans seems to be very we don’t know. Very mixed at this hour.
MARK PRESTON: Yeah, lukewarm, no question. But of course, as you noted, he was staring down this ethics report that potentially we were going to see released as early as the end of the week. Could been very damning for him.
But now that he has resigned, he resigned yesterday as he was nominated by Donald Trump. Again, lukewarm support.
Now, this could be a play by Donald Trump to throw a sticky dynamite into the mix and try to rally his base as he tries to push through all of his Cabinet nominees.
But even if he does get some resistance within the Senate, there could be a bit of a civil war. Listen to what Tommy Tuberville, the senator from Alabama, had to — said to those who don’t get in line behind Donald Trump’s picks.
SEN. TOMMY TUBERVILLE: I’ve already seen where a couple of them says I’m not vote for him. Wait a minute. You are not the United States of America. You have one vote in the U.S. Senate. You did not get elected president. Vote with President Trump. This is the last chance we’re going to have of saving this country. And if you want to get in the way, fine. But we’re going to try to get you out of the Senate, too, if you try to do that.
MARK PRESTON: Now, I got to tell you, I just got off the phone with a senior Trump adviser. He tells me “Trump is going to bring in somebody to burn down the DOJ from the inside and Matt is going to do that.”
Conservatives believe that the DOJ is in chaos now. He has to get there first. And of course, as you noted, Sara, and as we’ve seen, there is going to be opposition to Matt Gaetz.
Watch above via CNN News Central.
