Melber Airs Brutal Montage of Matt Gaetz Attacking Republicans Whose Votes He Now Needs to Become Attorney General

Attorney General nominee Matt Gaetz met with Republican senators on Wednesday to win their support, even as the former congressman faces salacious allegations amid a House Ethics Committee probe. With Republicans controlling the upper chamber come January 53-47, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee can only afford to lose three Republican votes, assuming all Democrats vote against his nomination.

Normally, a Republican president’s attorney general pick would sail through a Republican-controlled Senate. But Gaetz has been accused of having sex with a 17-year-old girl, illicit drug use, and other misconduct. On Wednesday, the Ethics Committee declined to release the findings of its investigation after a deadlocked 5-5 vote. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) had urged the committee not to make the report public.

Gaetz denies the allegations, which were investigated by the Department of Justice. The DOJ did not bring charges.

Some Republican senators have expressed concerns about Gaetz, but Trump has reportedly been lobbying them to get in line. In addition to the allegations, Gaetz has a long history of shooting inside the Republican tent. On Wednesday’s edition of The Beat on MSNBC, host Ari Melber played a montage of Gaetz ripping specific Republicans, including those in the Senate whose votes he now desperately needs.

Targets included Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), both of whom indicated they will vote against Gaetz. The former congressman also criticized Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK), Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC), Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), who said he wants to see the Ethics Committee’s report before deciding on Gaetz.

In several snippets, Gaetz said:

We have Murkowski and Collins rejecting the duties that they have as senators. And if they do that, their voters should reject them.

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Our leadership, frankly, is in shambles. You’ve got Mitch McConnell wavering.

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Speaking of fools, Republican senator and neoconservative Markwayne Mullin…

Mitch McConnell’s real legacy is that he was missing in action when we needed him most and spent a lot of his time in the Senate putting special interests above American interests… My advice going forward is that the Republican leadership doesn’t need to pick one of the Johns. John Thune, John Cornyn, John Barrasso… I think that there are gonna be better options than the Johns.

[…]

Senator Tillis, trying to get another blank check for a corrupt country. It’s disappointing… There’s a certain hubris to all of it.

Not surprisingly, Senate Republicans did not heed Gaetz’s unsolicited on picking a new leader, as Thune got the job. Speaking last week about Gaetz on some other Trump nominations, Thune said, “None of this is gonna be easy.”

Watch above via MSNBC.