Trump picks Matt Gaetz as attorney general and Tulsi Gabbard as director of national intelligence

US President-elect Donald Trump announced Wednesday that he has picked Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz as attorney general and former Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard as director of national intelligence.

Gaetz is a polarizing figure and a close ally of Trump, who is currently the subject of a House Ethics Committee investigation into allegations that Gaetz “engaged in sexual misconduct and illegal drug use, accepted inappropriate gifts, and people with whom.” “He was together, granted special privileges and favors.” had a personal relationship and tried to obstruct government investigations into his behavior.” Gaetz has denied the allegations.

US President-elect Donald Trump announced Wednesday that he has picked Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz as attorney general and former Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard as director of national intelligence.

Gaetz is a polarizing figure and close ally of Trump, who is currently the subject of a House ethics committee Investigation in allegations that Gaetz may “engaged in sexual misconduct and illegal drug use, accepting improper gifts, granting special privileges and favors to those with whom he had a personal relationship, and attempting to obstruct government investigations into his conduct.” Gaetz has rejected the allegations.

Last year, the Justice Department also investigated him as part of a sex trafficking investigation. The Department completed abandon its investigation in 2023 without pressing charges against Gaetz. In this case too, Gaetz denied the allegations.

“Matt is an extremely talented and tenacious lawyer,” Trump said in one post on his social media platform Truth Social. “Matt will end gun control, protect our borders, dismantle criminal organizations, and restore Americans’ deeply shaken faith and trust in the Department of Justice.”

Formerly a Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii who ran for president as the Democratic nominee 2020Gabbard left the Democratic Party 2022 to register as a self-employed person and has been one ever since staunch Trump supporter. She was deployed to Iraq out of 2004 to 2005 as a major in the Hawaii National Guard and is now a lieutenant colonel in the US Army Reserve, but she has little direct intelligence experience. If confirmed by the Senate, Gabbard would oversee the U.S. intelligence community.

Gabbard has been a vocal critic of the US military intervention in Syria, and in 2017 she was met with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad at a time when the US government had labeled him a war criminal for his use of chemical weapons against his own people. In a letter, she also blamed the Biden administration for failing to prevent war in Ukraine on X when Russia launched its all-out invasion: “This war and suffering could have easily been avoided if Biden Admin/NATO had simply acknowledged Russia’s legitimate security concerns about Ukraine joining NATO, which would mean US/NATO forces stationed right on the Russian border. She was a co-author in June 2022 a piece for Foreign policy He argued that Ukraine had no realistic chance of defeating Russia and that the United States should push for an agreement to end the war.

Trump praised Gabbard in a post for her “fearless spirit.” truth social announces her nomination for the Secret Service role. “Tulsi will make us all proud!”