Former U.S. Lawyer Harry Litman says former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), who resigned from Congress after President-elect Donald Trump nominated him to be his lawyer basic, has “zero chance” of passing a required background test by the FBI.
Gaetz was as soon as the topic of a intercourse trafficking probe by the very Justice Division he’s tapped to guide, in addition to a Home Ethics Committee investigation into his alleged misconduct, together with expenses that he used medicine like MDMA. The DOJ finally declined to press expenses, and the Home probe successfully ended when Gaetz resigned, however the firebrand Republican will nonetheless must be vetted earlier than securing his new job.
In an look on MSNBC’s “All In with Chris Hayes,” Litman denounced the nomination.
“There are tens of thousands of professionals in the Department of Justice,” he mentioned Friday, per Mediaite. “None of them could be hired for their job if they did what Matt Gaetz is accused of doing. MDMA is a friggin’ Schedule 1 controlled substance.”
“Anyone who did that after law school would be absolutely disqualified,” Litman continued.
The ethics committee launched their 2021 probe to evaluate if Gaetz had engaged in sexual misconduct, used illicit medicine and obstructed authorities efforts to analyze him. He was particularly accused of having intercourse with a 17-year-old and touring together with her throughout state traces.
The probe was paused because the Justice Division pursued related allegations towards Gaetz till 2023, when prosecutors introduced he wouldn’t face prosecution. A former affiliate of his was sentenced in 2022, nonetheless, for expenses that included intercourse trafficking of a minor.
“Joel Greenberg [is] rotting in jail for the same thing Matt Gaetz did,” Litman mentioned Friday, “What does he have on him that he can blackmail? What girls, minor or not, can come forward about their drug-fueled orgies, every single one that Matt Gaetz denies?”
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“For character, for national security, there is zero, zero chance that anyone who had done that, much less what a background investigation would turn up … could even get the first step toward an appointment at the lowest professional level of the Department of Justice,” Litman mentioned Friday.
Former Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) mentioned Thursday that there are seemingly greater than sufficient senators opposed to Gaetz’s nomination to maintain it from being confirmed within the Senate. A number of lawmakers have already known as for the ethics committee to reveal its findings.
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Trump has since acknowledged that he’ll make “recess appointments” to bypass required Senate confirmations for his nominations, doubtlessly easing Gaetz’s path, whereas Home Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) mentioned Friday that he’ll “strongly request” the Home ethics report be buried.
Need assistance? Go to RAINN’s Nationwide Sexual Assault On-line Hotline or the Nationwide Sexual Violence Useful resource Heart’s web site.
