Will Republicans Reject Gaetz?

from The New York Times I'm Sabrina. tavernes and this is the. [Music]. daily another Trump appointment and this. is one that is probably going to. surprise a lot of people um last week. president-elect Donald Trump chose the. Firebrand Congressman Matt gates to be. his attorney general blindsided that's. how many Senate Republicans feel by. Donald I was shocked that he has been. nominated Trump's Choice shocked.

Washington it it must be the worst. nomination for a cabinet position in. American history and raised questions. about whether the Senate would approve. it he is entitled to his nominations but. he's not entitled to a confirmation of. any literally any Nomine today my. colleague Robert Draper on what the. nomination reveals about Trump's promise. for Retribution and how far Republicans. are willing to go to help him get it.

[Music]. [Applause]. it's Monday November. [Music]. 18th Robert welcome to the Daily thanks. for having me on and happy Sunday you as. well so President elect Donald Trump. announced a series of pretty. controversial nominations for his. cabinet last last week Chief among them.

was Matt Gates the hard-right member of. Congress from Florida for attorney. general Gates is someone you've written. a lot about and we wanted to turn to you. to talk about this pick of gates and why. it's so controversial the pick is. controversial Sabrina in part because of. who Matt Gates is he comes from what I. suppose you could say is the performance. art Wing of the Republican party so. who's very Adroid at getting attention. but someone who does not have an.

accomplished track record as a. legislator so he would seem to be not an. altogether serious pick and not a. particularly qualified one as well but. he's also controversial as a pick. because of the particular office the. Department of Justice of course he would. be America's chief law enforcement. officer which is interesting and ironic. given that Gates himself has been. defiant of the law has had a trail of.

Investigations following him both on the. federal level and within Congress and on. top of that the attorney general has. tended to be an office that operates. more or less independently from the. president the Attorney General will. often do things that might even offend. the president might even investigate. members of the administration so to pick. someone like Matt Gates who is an. unflagging loyalist to Donald Trump. would seem to suggest that the doj will.

under Trump's presidency become. completely co-opted so that a president. Trump would himself be in many ways. beyond the reach of the law so all of. this sets in motion a showdown between. Trump and the Republican Party RIT large. and a test of whether or not the. legislative branch will offer any kind. of constraints over that authority of. his okay so let's talk about who Matt. Gates is and how he became became such.

an important figure in Trump World tell. me about him sure Matt Gates is from. Northwestern Florida he grew up in a. town called nville his father owned a. chain of hospices that he ultimately. sold in the early 2000s for something. like $400 million so wealthy family very. wealthy family his father found a second. career in politics he ran for state. senate in one ultimately becoming. president of of the senate in the State.

of Florida and the younger gates after. being a high school debate Champion went. on to college then got a law degree and. joined a commercial litigation firm. where he stayed for a couple of years. but then after that joined the new. family business of politics and ran for. a vacant seat in the State House of. Florida in 2010 so he pretty much. immediately jumps into politics after. being in this law practice yeah that's. right and then Matt Gates ran for the.

first congressional district of Florida. his local congressional seat which is um. very conservative very dominated by a. couple of military bases and he ran of. course at the same time that Donald. Trump was running for president so this. was the 2016 cycle this is when he gets. to Congress yeah that's right Matt Gates. was an early supporter of the former. Florida Governor Jeb Bush but it did not. take terribly long before Bush was FAL. ing in his debate performances and his.

fundraising and in every other way. against this Outsider candidate Donald. Trump and Gates quickly threw in with. him as well and why did he throw his lot. in with Trump I I think for a couple of. reasons Sabrina the first was that he. was punching a winning ticket though. Trump was an outsider he dominated the. Republican primaries and really was at. the top of the polls and so it was. evident the the center of gravity within. the Republican party was moving towards. Trump Gates could clear see that but.

there was also a pugilistic streak to. Trump that Gates himself as a kind of. Resident smart alec in in his high. school as a debate nerd that he could. very much identify with and Matt Gates. himself a guy who was given to sarcasm. was given to insults was given to be. outside looking into the political. establishment found himself very much to. be a kindred spirit of. trump almost from the the beginning of.

Trump's presidency joining us now. Florida Congressman Matt Gates. Republican Congressman Matt Gates. Congressman Matt Gates and Congressman. Matt Gates represents the State of. Florida and he joins this Congressman. thanks a lot for coming on Matt Gates. was on every conservative Outlet. praising everything that Trump did I. support this travel ban because I think. it will enhance the security of. Americans from the Muslim ban the. foundation for ObamaCare is crumbling. and that means we might be able to. actually start on Healthcare worthy of.

the great people in this country to his. attempts to repeal and replace Obamacare. I think if you just look at the bias on. the Mueller team these are not people in. search of the truth they are people in. search of an impeachment charge and I. think everyone was still trying to take. their measure of trump and he did not. have a deep bench of cheerleaders but. Matt Gates was unambiguously one of them. Mr President great job I'm proud of you. I think we won the day sir.

Gates was frequently as a result of this. called on the phone by Trump president. Trump would offer his thanks to Gates. and so it became this kind of. self-licking ice cream cone uh where uh. Gates would say something Trump would. love it Gates would want to please him. even more and on and on and. [Music]. went so outside of these interviews and. TV appearances were there other ways. that Gates was trying to show his. loyalty yeah I think the most flamboyant.

example occurred in 2019 when the house. intelligence committee was having an. impeachment inquiry into Trump's conduct. towards the president of Ukraine and his. apparent attempt to get president. zalinski to dig up dirt on Trump's 2020. opponent Joe Biden so the intelligence. committee was having this impeachment. inquiry in a secure facility in the. basement of the capital classified.

information was being discussed this was. not something that just anybody could go. into that includes any person who has a. congress person's badge but Matt Gates. led a group of about two dozen. Republican members of Congress to this. facility followed by a bunch of. reporters I'm gathered here with dozens. of my congressional colleagues. underground in the basement of the. capital standing outside the doors of.

this conference room that was Secure. Gates and the others proceeded to have. an ad hoc press conference because if. behind those doors they intend to. overturn the results of an American. presidential election we want to know. what's going on in which Gates talked. about how outrageous it was that this. sham investigation was taking place. against President Trump and then at the. very end we're going to go and see if we. can get inside so let's uh let's see if.

we can get. in we're going in he said okay we're. going in and they barged into the. facility effectively bringing the. proceedings to a halt and the idea that. any closed hearing would be disrupted by. anybody was generally unheard of but for. an actual legislator an actual member of. Congress to store in and start making.

accusations that this was some sort of. deep State undertaking where they were. hatching up damning testimony from. scratch was without precedent and it. showed just how far he was willing to go. for trump it sounds like yeah that's. right and another thing that I think. stands out about Gates's support of. trump was in the waning moments of. Trump's presidency on January the 6th. when Matt Gates. uh far from expressing outrage that.

Trump had stirred up the mob that had. stormed the capital was questioning the. composition of the mob itself and saying. that these weren't Trump supporters. these must be left-wingers the these are. members of antifa the far-left group. that that had been involved in protests. not all of them peaceful protests during. the summer of 2020 for example and we. should say was pretty much conclusively. not part of the riot at the capital on. January 6th that's right there was Zero.

evidence to suggest that what took place. at the capital on January the 6th was. instigated by or even that there were. antifa participants in it but there was. gates from the GetGo basically saying. these couldn't be Trump supporters so. then in the dates to follow the January. the 6 Riot there were calls to impeach. Donald Trump and while Gates did not say. he should not be impeached and certainly. did not say that he should be impeached. he did immediately dence those people.

who denounced Donald Trump and called. for his impeachment so Gates was one of. the very first people to decry them. house Republican conference chairwoman. Liz Cheney calling for Trump's. impeachment and in fact within a couple. of weeks after Trump left office on. January the 20th I love. Wyoming there's Matt Gates on the steps. of the capital of Wyoming. confess to you this is my first time in.

Wyoming I've been here for about an hour. and I feel like I already know the place. a lot better than your misguided. representative Liz Janie leading a. protest against the congresswoman. representing the state of Wyoming Liz. Cheney and saying that she's the one who. needs to be pushed. out the truth is that the establishment. in both political parties have teamed up. to screw our fellow Americans for.

Generations this a very aggressive going. after Trump's enemies yes that's right. and of course it's Matt Gates being. clever enough recognizing that not all. the facts are in not to say Donald Trump. absolutely did nothing wrong but instead. to say that the people who are saying. that Donald Trump did something wrong. are themselves wrong so it's a kind of. bankshot of denouncing denouncers that. is the sort of thing that the lawyerly. gates is a specialist in so this is a.

guy who's time and time again shown that. he's willing to defend Trump at all. costs which I guess answers the question. of why Trump might want this guy as his. attorney general that's right I mean. Gates was essentially setting himself up. as the kind of person that Donald Trump. [Music]. needed someone who had his uh bombastic. combative style someone who was an. unflagging loyalist that's the kind of. guy Donald Trump would want to have.

around but something else is happening. too which is that Matt Gates is landing. in hot water and as a result of that. needs Donald Trump at least as much as. Donald Trump needs Matt Gates. [Music].

we'll be right. [Music]. back so Robert you said that Gates needs. Trump in some ways just as much as Trump. needs Gates explain. that yes Matt Gates was in trouble with. the federal authorities and had been. really since 2017 or so when he was a.

freshman member of Congress here's what. was taking place Gates had become. friends with a guy named Joel Greenberg. who was kind of a political gadfly with. political Ambitions of his own was. thinking of running for congress and he'. collected a bunch of lobbyists and other. political muckety mucks in Florida to. hang out with he would help throw these. parties and Gates began to Cort around. with Greenberg and with Greenberg's. friends to show up to these parties. there would be Recreation drugs of these. parties there would be sex at these.

parties and in addition to the lobbyists. and and elected officials there would be. women who were not of politics who were. there some of them were from an escort. service and at least one of them was. under the age of 18 this is what. attracted the attention of the feds when. Joel Greenberg was nabbed by federal. authorities for a variety of things. including having sex apparently with. with a 17-year-old girl Greenberg plad.

guilty to this offense and right away. began to supply them with information to. the effect that Gates was doing the same. thing so the feds began to conduct a. federal inquiry into Gates um but. ultimately they dropped the case and um. they dropped it apparently because of. two things first that they couldn't get. enough information and that the. information that they could get was. coming from people. who might not look so great before a.

jury either because they were involved. in the crimes themselves or had criminal. records of their own and so it just. became a heavy lift now this is informed. speculation Sabrina because the reality. is that the Department of Justice never. announced we are closing this case and. we are closing this case for the. following reasons so this is the best. we've been able to infer from Justice's. Behavior but close that they did okay so. the doj effectively shutters its case. against Gates but we don't really know.

whether there was a crime or what. ultimately was the rub there was that. the end of it it was not the end of it. no Congress picked up where the federal. government left off the major political. headline knew trouble for Florida. Congressman Matt Gates tonight already. under federal investigation now the. house Ethics Committee is also. investigating its own set of allegations. there is in Congress something called. the house Ethics Committee and it is a. committee composed of members of both. parties it meets in secret to examine.

potential misconduct by sitting members. of Congress it has its own fact. Gathering apparatus and it's pretty. deliberative it takes a while for them. to come around on their stuff this is. what happened then with the gates matter. the house Ethics Committee began to take. a look at it relying to some degree on. the information that the Department of. Justice had already gathered but also. not limited to that the house ethics. launching a bipartisan investigation.

examining allegations of sexual. misconduct illicit drug use because. there were allegations that Gates had. been on the floor of the house showing. videos and still photographs on his. iPhone of nude women whether Gates. shared inappropriate images or videos on. the house floor allegations as well that. he was having a relationship with a. member of his staff and as well. allegations that he was using Federal.

campaign funds for his own personal use. these were the kinds of things that were. incoming for the Ethics Committee to. consider so a wide ranging investigation. with some pretty sorted. allegations how does Gates respond to. all of this does he speak out yes yeah. so they're saying there is a 17-year-old. girl who uh you had a relationship with. is that true and who are they who is. this girl what are they talking about.

the New York Times the person doesn't. exist I have not had a relationship with. a 17-year-old that is totally false as. Gates always does he he spoke out vifer. Le indicating not only that these. charges were false but that these. charges were politically motivated. though this time not by democrats so. much as by Republican Leaders with whom. Gates had gotten crosswise one of them. in particular Kevin McCarthy and why did. Gates think that McCarthy was behind. this investigation those two had. problems for a while I mean you know.

McCarthy had donated to Gates's first. couple of congressional campaigns but. they never lied each other McCarthy sort. of this glad-hander very much a member. of The Establishment so not Gates is. kind of guy to begin with and gates for. that matter as this flying the ointment. who's always coming out against. Republican leadership not McCarthy's. kind of guy then when words surfaced. that there was an investigation into.

Gates's Behavior by the federal. government far from Kevin McCarthy. saying I'm sure that these are. unwarranted investigations he just said. those are serious um implications if it. comes out to be true yes we would remove. them if that was the case but right now. as mad gate says this is not true and we. don't have any information so let's get. all the information I don't really have. any comment we'll just simply have to. see what the federal governments got to. do it was um as. lukewarm a kind of statement of support. as Could Be Imagined and Gates filed.

that one. away and this all comes to a head in. January of 2023 when Congress convenes. to elect a speaker which is a proformer. thing that usually lasts a couple of. hours so we are now in a situation where. this Congress Will Make History we will. have at least one more vote to see who. the next speaker will be in the 118th. Congress but in this case became this. protracted 5-day melodrama six votes. later and the Republican majority is.

still scrambling to pick someone anyone. to serve as Speaker of the House and why. was this the case because Mt Gates. didn't like Kevin McCarthy after three. days and hundreds of votes cast the. house has still not elected a speaker. and with determined if not to completely. stop McCarthy from becoming speaker then. to at least drag it out four days in. 12th round of voting and still no. speaker of the house on Tuesday Kevin. McCarthy tried to get elected speaker. but he lost three times but then on. Wednesday lost three more times it was.

it was really really melodramatic and it. played out on National Television where. gates at one point was nearly assaulted. mediate something here it is getting. really on thethy looks angry by a. republican member of Congress Mike. Rogers who was a McCarthy. Ally he here someone saying stay civil. where gates at various junctures I'm. nominating Jim Jordan nom nominated. people including like Donald Trump to be.

the speaker instead of McCarthy Mr. Speaker my friend from Oklahoma says. that my colleagues and I who don't. support Kevin McCarthy would plunge the. house and the country into. chaos chaos is Speaker McCarthy and. after successive balloting McCarthy. would go into a room with groups of. Republicans and they would manage to get. him to agree on this or that thing for. example the allowance of a single member.

of Congress to call for a snap vote. known as a motion to vacate was one. Democrat put it uh it's like they'll. have a spokesperson but not an actual. speaker in the house so he was coming in. as like really the weakest speaker. imaginable meanwhile there's Gates. clearly enjoying this theater and even. as McCarthy by the end of it all at the. end of the 5-day stretch emerges. Victorious really the Triumph is as much. Matt Gates as anyone else's.

yeah what I really remember about that. whole episode between Gates and McCarthy. was just the way that Gates went about. it like he withheld his vote from. McCarthy over the speakership in this. like very entous way it's like he was. you know humiliating him almost like it. was this incredible Act of of dominance. like this power move against him that's. right and it was a total Trump move and. and it was the kind of thing that you. know Trump would remember as this is a.

guy you know who's got coones this is a. guy who will stand up to. everyone so what became of the ethics. investigation in the end well it moved. slowly slowly because you know Gates. continued effectively to delay it by. responding only at the last minute to. inquiries and then doing so with the. usual bombast being. non-responsive and the Ethics Committee. was having some difficult. getting traction getting further.

information so it had produced a report. roughly in Late July I believe is when. it did at least the best that we can. tell but there are rules in the house. that govern when you can release a. negative ethics report as this one was. you can't do it close to an election so. Gates had a primary in August they. couldn't do it near then and then Gates. was facing a general election in. November so they couldn't do it then so. they kept missing all of these windows. and now suddenly it is after the. election Trump is elected president the.

Republicans regain control of the Senate. continue to have control over the house. and meanwhile there is this Ethics. Committee report that's been sitting. there that's understood to be highly. negative and therefore very damaging. involving criminal charges that could. almost certainly lead to Gates's. expulsion from Congress wow so there's. that bomb B just kind of sitting there.

what happens with it well what happens. with it is that Donald Trump before this. can be released today Major surprises. among Donald Trump's latest picks to. fill his cabinet including Matt Gates a. Fierce and loyal defender of Mr Trump in. Congress now his choice to become the. next Attorney General decides on. Wednesday that he wants Matt gates to be. his attorney general Trump today. describing one of his strongest. Defenders as a quote deeply gifted and. tenacious attorney who will end the.

partisan weaponization of our justice. system and he makes this announcement. and within a matter of hours Gates. resigns from the House of. Representatives he resigns yeah he. resigns and in so doing he's no longer a. member of the House and an Ethics. Committee investigation into a House. member is no longer pertinent you can't. in other words release information about. someone who's no longer a member of. Congress so it would seem then that the. ethics report dies the death so the.

timing is quite interesting right Gates. is about to be the subject of this. potentially hugely damaging report could. very well end his career and then at. this critical hour for Gates Trump names. him to the position that allows him to. resign from the house effectively. stopping the report and becoming. potentially the top law enforcement. agent in the country a role that beyond. all of this potential legal trouble. seems to be pretty unqualified for yeah.

it's I mean it's this remarkable Zero. Sum moment you know where he goes from a. guy of Maximum exposure potentially even. criminal exposure since after all the. feds did not you know find him not. guilty they didn't decide he was. innocent they just decided not to pursue. it anymore and and so if all of these. allegations surface he's expelled from. Congress then he's himself criminally. vulnerable he goes from that to now. being the nominee to be the chief law. enforcement officer in the land and so.

yeah it's this moment where a guy goes. from really really being in a deep dark. place to a guy who may be sitting on top. of the world referring to Matt Gates and. why do you think it is that Trump named. him like is it because you know having. him on the hook so to speak means he. would just do his. bidding I don't think it's that sabr I. don't think that he's doing it to do a. solid for Gates or to own Gates I think. that Gates is loyalty to Trump is not.

what's an issue here that's always been. unquestioned it's instead an external. signal that Trump is sending first of. all that he will select exactly who he. wants to select he knows how audacious a. choice this is and he doesn't care and. secondly for this particular position. for the Department of Justice to have at. the top of it a Matt Gates sends a. signal that yes I do mean good on what I. said during the campaign that I Donald. Trump will be your his voters.

retribution that I will use the. Department of Justice in exactly the way. that you would imagine it would be used. if Matt Gates were at the top of it it. will be used as a weapon it will be used. as the spearo to ward off any kind of. Investigations into the president by the. FBI or by the opposition and that it. will be used as a means of attack. against Trump's opponents be they uh a. sitting Senator like Adam Schiff who'd.

been the head of the intelligence. committee and had brought the first. impeachment inquiry a former member of. Congress Liz Cheney who became his most. vocal Republican opponent members of the. press or any number of individuals Matt. Gates will be at the very top of a. department of justice that will be the. kind of justice that Donald Trump wants. Justice to mean he he will redefine the. concept of Justice through the personage.

of gates as his attack. [Music]. dog but of course there is a senate. confirmation process for his appointment. so what are the Senators saying about. his nomination this one was not on my. Bingle card elections have consequences. he chose Matt Gates Matts will come. before the the committee and he will be. asked hard questions and we'll see how. he does well there's been a sort of. collective groan Andor statements of. shock look I I barely know Gates all I. know is he likes picking fights on.

social media he'll have to deal with. that in committees but I don't know his. background I'm going to look at it and. give him a fair here I think there. should not be any limitation on the. Senate Judiciary committee's. investigation including uh whatever the. house Ethics Committee is generated none. of them has come right out and said that. they would oppose it but there's clearly. some friction and clearly some kind of. visceral opposition now there's been. some talk about the possibility of. recess appointments which would.

essentially mean the Senate Majority. Leader calling a 10day recess and. letting Trump push these nominations. through without a confirmation but right. now that seems pretty unlikely and I. think that what's much more likely is. that this will go to an actual vote and. what if this ethics report does end up. somehow getting out like either leaked. or actually released I would imagine. there would be a pretty big public. outcry it's explosive do we think Trump.

might blink and say never mind it seems. really unlikely that Trump is going to. be in any way concerned by the release. of the report or for that matter the. contents of the report I think he's been. fully briefed on what likely is in it uh. and Trump knows who Gates is I don't. think he will be in the least bit cowed. by the prospect of unseemly Contents I. think he's expecting it I think that. they'll essentially describe it as fake.

news by political opponents of. gates so we're talking on Sunday morning. as of now it seems likely that this is. actually heading to a confirmation. Hearing in a republican controlled. Senate where on the one hand Gates has a. lot of enemies but on the other this. group of senators is pretty afraid of. Crossing Trump so this sets up a pretty. interesting Showdown it certainly does. and because it is an audacious move for.

Trump to pick someone who is not only. unqualified for the job it would seem. who not only is so disliked by members. of his own party but also is so. encumbered and for Trump to basically be. saying to the Senate yeah I know he's. got all those problems I don't care. confirm him anyway is a very early test. of just how willing the Republican party. is to offer any kind of check on the.

president-elect it cannot be emphasized. enough Sabrina that Republicans have. been paying close attention over the. years to what's happened to those. Republicans who have attempted to thwart. Trump's will prominently Liz Cheney and. none of them wants to suffer the Liz. Cheney treatment so they recognize that. standing up to Trump not only only. carries costs in terms of a basic.

discomfort but really can be a career. ending proposition and so we'll see. whether Republicans are willing to say. look we'll give you all of these other. nominations this is just a bridge too. far or if they in essence say the bridge. too far is also a bridge that we're. going to be willing to give you.

Robert thank you it's my pleasure thanks. for having me. [Music]. Sabrina we'll be right. back here's what else you should know. today on Sunday for the first time. President Biden gave ukra Ukraine. permissioned to use American long-range.

missiles to hit targets inside Russia. the weapons are likely to be employed. against Russian and North Korean troops. in defense of Ukrainian forces in the. ksk region of Western Russia an area. that Ukraine invaded in a surprise move. in late October Biden's authorization. was a major change in US policy and. comes just 2 months before. president-elect Donald Trump takes. office Trump has vowed to limit support. for.

Ukraine today's episode was produced by. Will Reed Michael Simon Johnson MOJ Zade. and Mary Wilson it was edited by Devin. Taylor and Michael benois contains. original music by Dan Powell Alicia beup. Diane Wong and Marian Lozano and was. engineered by Chris Wood our theme music. is by Jim brunberg and Ben LAN of. wonderly special thanks to Katie.

[Music]. [Music]. Edmonson that's it for the daily I'm. Sabrina tavernes see you tomorrow. [Music].