Trump DOJ Alums Rethink Return With Gaetz as Attorney General
(Bloomberg Law) -- Matt Gaetz’s selection for attorney general has veterans of the first Trump Justice Department reconsidering whether to reenlist.
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Numerous former DOJ officials said they were initially excited or at least open to resuming their service in senior roles at department headquarters or as US attorneys, according to interviews with a dozen of those alums. But some said they began backtracking Wednesday afternoon as soon as Trump tapped the Florida House member and recent subject of a child sex trafficking investigation.
“This choice is putrid,” said a former senior Trump DOJ official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in order to talk candidly about peers’ reactions. “I can’t imagine anybody with integrity would want to work for this guy as attorney general. Period. Full stop.”
Even before the unexpected selection of Gaetz, a staunch Trump supporter who’s never worked at DOJ, the president-elect signaled he would prioritize loyalty over experience to head a department that had twice indicted him in recent years. That made it all the more important to have more mainstream choices for deputy attorney general and other top posts to ensure Trump’s agenda could be successfully implemented by people who know the building, several former DOJ lawyers said.
Giving Pause
Other GOP department veterans are still considering whether to go back under Gaetz—while also questioning how he could be confirmed in the Senate. Four of those officials said the selection of Gaetz, 42, immediately deflated the optimism they’d had that the next Trump DOJ would maintain more independence from the White House than campaign rhetoric had suggested.
Some people are thinking harder now, one of those ex-officials said. Top aides would be required to defend Gaetz and implement his policies, including if he “does something crazy,” the ex-official said, and as the attorney general he’d heavily influence the hiring below him.
Retaliatory prosecutions of people like President Joe Biden, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, DOJ special counsel Jack Smith, and former Wyoming Republican Rep. Liz Cheney were less of a concern to the former Trump officials, who downplayed those scenarios as campaign banter that was very difficult to actualize. But other Trump plans, such as drafting pardons for those convicted of violently attacking the US Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, were more likely and still troubling, said one former Trump US attorney.
When informed that Gaetz was the pick, another former Senate-confirmed Trump DOJ political appointee asked if he was being pranked. He said the selection made him less certain about jockeying for a spot in the second term, and that he’d have to do more homework on Gaetz before deciding.
Desire to Serve
Seth DuCharme, DOJ’s principal associate deputy attorney general in the first Trump administration, said before the Gaetz announcement he was “heartened” to see “alumni professionals” in his network have a desire to come back. But DuCharme said how much influence they’d have compared to the bomb-thrower types who may also be installed at the department remains a “critical question.”
After the announcement, DuCharme said his sentiment holds, and that while some are now mulling it over, the desire to serve remains.
“The challenge for them is you can’t lead the department by force of will,” said DuCharme, now a partner at Bracewell LLP. “You’ve got to get everybody from the line to the middle managers to the people who are leading the task forces comfortable.”
“If you say things that are too outside the norm of how the department has typically functioned, they just won’t do it,” he added. “If they take total outsiders to come in and run the department, it’s just not going to work.”
Despite past promises from Trump and his allies to avoid appointing DOJ personnel who’d thwart his wishlist, there are several prior Trump DOJ appointees working on the department’s transition team. Their presence reassured fellow alums that the next administration wouldn’t stray as far from department traditions as some had feared.
Those ex-officials said they’re now reassessing how they believe the department will be molded after Trump chose not to name one of the more conventional AG frontrunners, such as Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), or his former acting attorney general, Matthew Whitaker.
Even a homecoming for the so-called normal GOP lawyers wouldn’t inspire confidence in Kristy Parker, a former DOJ civil rights supervisor and counsel at Protect Democracy.
“What does it mean to be an institutionalist if someone accepts a DOJ position knowing that Trump has promised to use its law enforcement powers as a tool for retaliation and retribution?” Parker said before the announcement.
After learning about Gaetz, who resigned his seat after the announcement, Parker added that those who enlist as his subordinates “will not enjoy the same immunity Trump has and will therefore be placing themselves and their law licenses in jeopardy.”
Multiple Personalities
Before Trump picked Gaetz, former officials predicted the DOJ would be populated by competing factions of department alumni and MAGA loyalists, who would end up battling for influence.
Richard Donoghue, who as the acting deputy attorney general resisted Trump’s attempt at using DOJ to overturn the 2020 election results, said earlier that worries about MAGA influence may be overblown.
“I understand why the concerns arise given some of the rhetoric over the last year, but I have a lot of faith in the institutions. And I do think that the right people will do the right thing, given the opportunity,” said Donoghue, now a partner with Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, before Gaetz was tapped. “I’m not as concerned about it as other people, maybe, but time will tell.”
After the announcement, Donoghue declined to comment about whether the Gaetz pick changed his analysis, but said Trump’s choice is “surprising, to say the least.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Ben Penn in Washington at bpenn@bloomberglaw.com
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Seth Stern at sstern@bloomberglaw.com; Keith Perine at kperine@bloomberglaw.com
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