Washington: A far-right Republican, who was investigated for sex crimes and was also responsible for a leadership coup that paralysed the US Congress for weeks, has been nominated by Donald Trump to be America’s new attorney-general.

In an announcement that sent shock waves across Washington, the president-elect has tapped Florida congressman Matt Gaetz to be his top lawmaker tasked with overhauling what Trump has long viewed as a “weaponised” federal Justice Department.

Gaetz is a hardcore MAGA loyalist who was responsible for the coup that led to the ousting of then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy, which resulted in the Republican-dominated House of Representatives being unable to govern for weeks.

He was also previously investigated by prosecutors – and was still being examined by an ethics committee in Congress – over allegations that he was part of a scheme that led to the sex trafficking of a 17-year-old girl. He resigned from Congress shortly after the nomination, with AP reporting this will now end the ethics probe.

While Gaetz did not end up being charged, McCarthy believes the case was partly the reason the Floridian moved to oust him – although Gaetz denies this.

“I’ll give you the truth on why I’m not Speaker,” McCarthy told a forum in May.

“Because one person, a member of Congress, wanted me to stop an ethics complaint because he slept with a 17-year-old; an ethics complaint that started before I ever became Speaker. And that’s illegal, and I’m not going to get in the middle. Did he do it or not? I don’t know, but ethics is looking at it, and there’s other people in jail because of it.”

Gaetz’s nomination stunned many on Capitol Hill, with Democrat Chris Murphy saying that “you could literally hear the jaws dropping to the floor of Republican senators who are now going to be in a position to stand up to Donald Trump in a way that they have been unwilling to”.

But despite concerns among some members, the president-elect described the 42-year-old Gaetz as a “deeply gifted and tenacious attorney” who had “distinguished himself in Congress through his focus on achieving desperately needed reform at the Department of Justice”.

“Few issues in America are more important than ending the partisan weaponisation of our Justice System,” said Trump, who was recently convicted of falsifying business records to cover up his own sex scandal with porn star Stormy Daniels.

“Matt will end Weaponised Government, protect our Borders, dismantle Criminal Organisations and restore Americans’ badly shattered Faith and Confidence in the Justice Department,” Trump said on his social media site Truth Social.

The appointment was the latest in a flurry of cabinet and staff picks, as Trump returned to Washington to meet President Joe Biden following his emphatic election victory against Vice President Kamala Harris.

https://www.smh.com.au/world/north-america/trump-stuns-with-nomination-of-loyalist-matt-gaetz-for-attorney-general-20241114-p5kqi3.html

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