America's Talking - Gaetz Withdraws From Attorney General Consideration

Episode Date: November 22, 2024

Matt Gaetz, President-elect Donald Trump’s embattled pick to lead the U.S. Department of Justice as attorney general, said Thursday he was withdrawing his name from consideration to lead the federal law enforcement agency. Gaetz’ decision comes after meeting with U.S. senators, many of whom had expressed misgivings about Gaetz, who made enemies in Congress, including for his role in ousting former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. The Senate must vote to confirm Trump cabinet nominees. Republicans on the House Ethics Commitee blocked the release of a long-awaited ethics report on Gaetz earlier this week despite some senators calling for its release. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Greetings, everyone, and welcome to America in Focus, powered by the Center Square. I'm Dan McAulb, Chief Content Officer at Franklin News Foundation, publisher of the Center Square Newswire Service. We are recording this on Friday, November 22nd. President-elect Donald Trump continues to fill out his cabinet with high-profile nominees. Matt Gates, Trump's controversial selection to run the Justice Department as Attorney General with threw his name from consideration amid allegations of Section. impropriety, Trump instead tapped former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi to replace Gates. But arguably, the biggest news of the week was the President-elect confirming that he plans to

declare a national emergency over the border crisis, which would allow him to use the military to help secure the southern border and participate in his plan to potentially deport massive numbers of violent criminal offenders in the U.S. illegally. joining me to discuss all things presidential transition is Casey Harper, Washington, D.C. Bureau Chief for the Center Square. Casey, let's start with a border. Tell us about Trump's plans there. Yeah, I mean, if you're a Trump supporter, you're really happy to see this. You're happy to see the level of aggression, the level of earnestness that Trump and his team are showing not only on these picks, getting him out quick, picking mostly ones that are appealing to the base. and then also just making clear that the border is going to be a top priority and taking those extra measures. I think that's what was a top campaign issue.

And that's what a lot of Trump supporters wanted. And here we go. I mean, we're under way for what could be a very interesting few years if he really does follow through on some of these promises, in particular, the mass deportations. And so, as you said, President-elect Donald Trump, he online on true social, posted that he basically confirmed reports that he was planning to use the military to deal with the border crisis. And essentially he says that the southern border crisis isn't an invasion. He called it an invasion. There's been millions. Estimates vary, but at least 10 million illegal immigrants have come into the country since Biden took office. We really don't know

the full number because how can you track the people who come in and totally evade law enforcement? It's just an estimate. But so, you know, he's calling that's an invasion, therefore I have the right to use the military. Now, it's interesting. People kind of assume that this means that he's going to put the military at the southern border to prevent people from coming in. Now, that may be true. I think that would be a reasonable assumption. But interesting, in the way that the original statement is worded, it says to reverse the Biden invasion through a mass deportation.

program. And so it seems to me the way I read that is actually the military is going to be involved in this mass deportation. I don't know what that looks like exactly, but it's going to be beefing up resources to ICE and also local sheriff's departments. You may remember, Dan, that part of the Trump plan is likely, if they really go through it, is likely going to involve partnering with local law enforcement to help them deport. And so then I guess the National Guard or whoever it ends up being could be extra manpower. to make this happen, just security maybe for those agents who go in or whatever it is. But, you know, local law enforcement, they know where these people live.

They know the neighborhoods. They, you know, they've been in the communities a long time and probably know it a lot better. And they have the numbers in a way that ICE just does not. So it's going to be really interesting to see if this is a very controversial move. But if you're really serious about it, it may take this kind of manpower down. Yeah. And the move to call up the military to participate in. what we think is a deportation plan.

It's at odds with a number of governors from blue states across the country. Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker this week said that that plan is likely unconstitutional, illegal. California governor Gavin Newsom has pushed back. Other governors have pushed back against the plan. Many of these are so-called sanctuary states where they don't allow law enforcement to cooperate with immigration and customs enforcement. So the potential for some conflict with the states is there, yes?

Yeah, definitely. And there's, I think there's a few Democrats out there who are looking to make their name, prepare themselves for future presidential runs, and build their donor base by becoming the foil to Donald Trump. I mean, you've already seen it. Newsom has already said that, you know, he's going to launch this effort to slow Trump down. Because Democrats don't have the House or the Senate, this idea of who's going to stand up to Trump is a popular one in the Democratic Party.

And so, yes, you see some of these governors saying it's going to be them. And that might be some legal fights. But honestly, there are millions and millions of illegal immigrants to deport without ever touching these states. I mean, there's tens of millions in the country. So Trump could easily, you know, make a lot of progress on his stated goal without even winning those legal battles. Let's transition to the Gates withdrawing his name. from consideration for the Attorney General's seat. I think probably many Republicans in the Senate in particular are relieved at that.

He was a controversial selection to begin with. He was shortly after he was nominated. He resigned from his U.S. House seat. Now there's a less, certainly far less controversial candidate that he's nominated to replace sketch, do you think in Bondi, the former Florida Attorney General, do you think senators are somewhat relieved at Gates's withdrawal? There are certainly a few moderate or senators and probably even a few more than just the moderates who are relieved. They don't have to make that hard vote. I think a lot of Trump's most staunch supporters really liked Gates because he has that he has shown a really

aggressive mentality and a willingness to not back down, even under intense outward pressure. So, of course, he famously ousted House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, even almost by himself. I mean, he had a handful of lawmakers with them. But remember, they only needed, I think, five to prevent a confirmation. And at times, they only had like nine votes preventing McCarthy from being confirmed. And despite intense pressure from the media from the outside world, he brought Congress to a halt. I'm sure McCarthy and him are just, this is sweet revenge for McCarthy first off. But, you know, they're thinking about how many Republicans were pressure.

Gates, who was leading that charge, to just give in, you're making Republicans look bad. And he stood his ground. And I think he earned the respect of a lot of, you know, Trump supporters by doing that because they were skeptical of McCarthy at that point. And he just showed he had a backbone. And so I think that's how he got the job, actually. So Trump loyalists were kind of excited about Gates, despite the allegations, because they, they really wanted someone who's going to use the DOJ to address a lot of the problems, to clean out the FBI, to prosecute some people. put some people in jail who they see deserve it. And it's a long time coming.

All that being said, it's not happening. Senators, yeah, probably relieved mostly. And I think Pam is going to be an easier vote. Now just Hegg said that's the most controversial vote. There's kind of a political wisdom a little bit, though, in throwing out a candidate, having them be knocked down. And so then they almost have to take your second choice. You know, negotiating, they turn down the first thing.

Then it's all they seem unreasonable if they won't take. When you cave, it's like they're meeting in the middle by taking. taking pain and these other nominees. Thank you for joining us today, Casey. Listeners can keep up with all things presidential transition and more at thecenter square.com.