gaetz.hat also failed along party lines. there was a third vote to complete the report, a procedural thing that has to happen when you deal with an ethics investigation. that one passed with bipartisan support. we are expecting the committee to meet again on december 5. that date was announced by susan wild, the ranking democrat on the house ethics committee. the pressure is still mounting on the panel to release the report as matt gaetz continues to go through the confirmation process for attorney general. host: matt gaetz was on capitol hill meeting with senators yesterday. what was happening on that side of the capitol? guest: the house ethics committee meeting about whether or not to release this sprawling report. the investigation has been going on for three years down. on the other side of the capitol , the congressman was crisscrossing different congressional offices, meeting with senators to talk about his confirmation. this is something that always happens when you have a presidenti

matt gaetz -- i'd love trump, and gaetz is a little off the charts. bondi looks good. when i heard that she was picked, my wife and i said, wow, why not? everything is a scandal with the democrats and they try to pull the republicans down. hopefully -- that sexual stuff, you know. yeah, i think it is great. host: when it comes to pam bondi herself, why do you think she is a solid choice? caller: she is experienced. she is the ag in florida, if i'm not mistaken. she has the qualities to be attorney general. you could pick 100 people who might have the same qualifications. you know. what do you think is against her? host: i will let the viewers give their opinions on her or matt gaetz. there is a political piece that writes five things about pam bondi, highlighting in 2016 that news emerged mr. trump paid a $2500 fine because his foundation donated $25,000 to bondi in 2013. she decided not to pursue a fraud investigation against trump university, which is now defunct. bondi said she was unaware of trump university complaints, and the contribution had nothing to do with h

you served with matt gaetz. and we just heard what vaughn had to say, this is not someone who easily backs away from a fight. do you think he's the kind of man who would step away for the good of the country or the administration, do you think there is something else going on here knowing him? >> thank you. that's former republican congressman. and matt gaetz, i think, just woke up to the reality that he was never going to have the votes. we know that there are a lot of people on the house, on both parties, who wanted to see that ethics report released. it was going to be very painful. who knows, that report might be released anyway, and privately a lot of republican senators were saying that they couldn't see any way that they would get to yes on gaetz. so, what this also does, for those who advance a theory that maybe this was all part of the plan away from matt gaetz to bow out more gracefully than he would have otherwise have that house report been published, this does feed into that theory, because it was r

congressman matt gaetz. trump following through on his desire to put a die hard loyalist at the helm of the u.s. justice department he has railed against. let's get more from kristen holmes who's covering the trump transition for us. tell us more about the choice of gaetz that's raising concerns, serious concerns, even among some republicans. >> that's right. this is certainly a controversial pick, wolf. i want to make one thing clear. this really felt like a surprise to a lot of us that have been covering the transition because we had spoken to a number of people, particularly who are very close to the transition, who have been working with the justice portion of the transition, who did not name matt gaetz as somebody on the short list. we had been told this was someone who came out of the blue almost. he was just not somebody who had been sitting down with donald trump, meeting with him as part of these meetings. but i am told that this, in part, is because gaetz is such a loyal ally to donald trump. now,

attorney general matt gaetz. if you were wondering what trump without the guardrails looked like, well, we're getting an idea beyond the theoretical. we're starting with breaking news on so many fronts related to president- elect donald trump. trump announced just minutes ago on truth social that he is picking republican congressman matt gaetz of florida to be the next u.s. attorney general. gaetz is currently facing a house ethics committee investigation over whether he may have, and i should note before i even outline the charges, gaetz denies it all. the house ethics committee in a statement this year said they're looking into whether he may have, quote, engaged in sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, accepted improper gifts, dispatched gifts and favors with whom he had a personal relationship, and sought to obstruct government investigations of his conduct. unquote. again, he denies it all. gaetz also famously led the movement to oust house speaker kevin mccarthy. in that post on truth social, trump said m

the doj probe into gaetz ended without doj pressing criminal charges against matt gaetz and gaetz hasany wrongdoing to both congressional and federal investigators. in a statement to "the new york times, trump's communications director claims that the document was leaked by doj to smear matt gaetz. the campaign saying it was classified. there are no classified markings on the document and there's no reason for a document like that to be classified. questions remain about the fate of trump's other nominees and a new legitimate line of questioning rising up about republicans and whether they'll oppose other unqualified picks. nbc news reports this, at least five republicans, senator mitch mcconnell of kentucky, susan collins of maine, and john curtis of utah were a no on gaetz and had communicated to other senators and those close to trump that they were not likely to be swayed. matt gaetz withdrewingawing is we begin today. new york times invest gait tor e schmight joins us and christy greenberg is back and basil smikle is here and host of the bull work podcast, tim miller is here and

your posture on gaetz right now? >> my posture is that every nominee, whether they were biden's in the last administration, or whether they were president trump, deserve a process, every member should meet with them, regardless of if they are a no vote or a yes vote. i met with a supreme court nominee i had every intention of voting against, and i did. people should meet and go through a respectful, professional process. it is pretty straightforward. >> you are meeting with him today, just to clarify? >> i intend to meet with congressman gaetz. >> make of that what you will. two other senators were keeping an eye on our editor collins of maine and lisa mccroskey of alaska. senator is up against a state kamala harris won by seven points. senator murkowski has made a name for herself as an independently minded lawmaker who has already survived one election against a drop back arrival. both of these senators were personally attacked by matt gaetz in 2020 over their refusal to rubberstamp amy coney barrett's nomination t

gaetz is the worst.ay be tracking in at the second worst. >> that's not just gaetz, it is tulsi gabbard. will they confirm her as director of national intelligence? you just heard former trump national security adviser john bolton say he thought it was a joke. now he's asking the fbi to investigate her before a senate confirmation hearing. why? because he suspects she is a national security threat and he's not alone. some in the senate are privately saying the same thing. and so is our next guest. tom nichols who says gabbard is a walking christmas tree of warning lights. joining us now, staff writer at the atlantic, tom nichols. good to have you. tulsi gabbard, let's talk about her as national security threat. before we do, let us play a little bit of what she said about one leader in particular, this is bashar al assad, the strongman of syria. >> do you think assad is our enemy? >> assad is not the enemy of the united states because the -- syria poses a direct threat to the united states. my point is t

matt gaetz's future is now up to republicans in the u.s. senate who have already shown how willing they are to reject lobbying from elon musk, who, today, said this. "as for these accusations against him, i consider them worth less than nothing. under our laws, a man is considered innocent until proven guilty. if ag garland, an unprincipled could have secured a conviction against gaetz, he would have, but he did not. case closed." the only audience for that tweet is the united states senate. and that is not the way republican senators see criminal investigations for members of the house of representatives for possible sex trafficking and possible criminal drug use. in the federal investigation elon musk refers to, matt gaetz's best friend, joe greenberg, pleaded guilty to six federal offenses, sex trafficking of a child, illegally producing a false identification document, aggravated identity theft, wire fraud, stocking, and conspiracy. matt gaetz's best friend, joel greenberg, is now serving a prison sentence of 11 years for those crimes.

donald trump, elon musk, and matt gaetz . the three of them thought matt gaetz for attorney general was a brilliant idea. reporting indicates the plot was hatched while donald trump's next white house chief of staff, the politically professional and astute susie wiles was in another section of the plane. and now, the new york times is reporting that one of the geniuses who came up with the gaetz for attorney jeff idea now thinks he won't get confirmed. president-elect donald j trump has admitted that his choices less than even odds of being confirmed by the senate. on the same day that failed lobbyist elon musk goes all out in his public lobbying of the united states senate, for matt gaetz, donald trump allows it to be leaked to the new york times that donald trump doesn't think gaetz is going to get confirmed. which one of them you think is right? the case nomination was in trouble from the minute it was announced. but since then, no one has delivered more ammunition to the united states senate to use against matt date in th

he chose matt gaetz. matt will come before the committee and he will be asked hard questions and we will see how he does. i voted for a lot of people i didn't like. >> what do you think of him? your response? >> i think he is very smart. time will tell. >> do you see him as a candidate? >> what are the implications? >> nothing. in the liberal world -- >> let's bring in julie who is there on the hill gathering some of this reaction. how significant ask what we are hearing from graham and what else are you hearing from other members of the judiciary committee, which is sort of the first step and stop in this confirmation process? >> i can tell you, ana, from running into lindsey graham yesterday after he announced matt gaetz as a pick to attorney general, graham seemed just as shocked and confused as all of us were when we heard that happened. i asked him if he talked to trump, who he is very close with, about this. he said, no. do you think it will be confirmed? he said, we will see. obviously, he had time

matt gaetz. i have mentioned some of the things we have reported that might sound critical are just things he admitted to. so this is, as i say, coming from trump, going towards the senate, this was last year was matt gaetz. >> for many of the crimes that we are observing, the statute of limitations is five years. we could send criminal referrals to the department of justice. we take the white house back. you never know, david. it may be an attorney general matt gaetz down the road or someone of my liking who will be there to actually enforce the law and provide the accountability. >> i like that. attorney general matt gaetz. are you kidding me? man. >> the world is not ready probably, certain any senate confirmation wouldn't be. a boy can dream. >> certainly senate confirmation wouldn't be, he says. >> i feel like i manifested that into being, right, by talking about it. look, i think the significance of matt gaetz as the attorney general is three main ways. the first is that he would enforce th

as you say, matt gaetz _ choice of matt gaetz? as you say, matt gaetz is _ choice of matt gaetz?y, matt gaetz is a - choice of matt gaetz? as you i say, matt gaetz is a somewhat divisive figure within the republican party. he is a maga loyalist and for example voted to overturn the 2020 election result, and spoke for donald trump after the right on january six. and he helped fire the speaker of the house. he is also subject of an ethics investigation over allegations of illicit drug use and sex trafficking allegation, allegations that i should stress matt gaetz has always denied. it raises questions whether he will get confirmed because donald trump's nominations have to be confirmed by the upper chamber, the senate, and if they hold a very slim majority in the senate and with matt gaetz being such a divisive figure, there are questions whether he will get the votes needed. that would be an open question. one person who was quoted said make sure you have your popcorn ready because it will be worth the watch. ready because it will be worth the wa after the right trump after the ri

did donald trump nominate matt gaetz to be attorney general because he wants matt gaetz to be attorney? [ laughter ] he plays these games to win, and we'll see what the senate does, but i don't think there is any sophisticated strategy involving other candidates here. this is his candidate. he's going to do what the justice department what trump has said he wants done at the justice department, and i think it's as simple as that. >> scott, do you think moderate senate republicans will get onboard with some of the foreign policy positions gabbard has taken like alissa mentioned russia with syria. >> those are something she'll have to answer in the confirmation hearings and there is a significant chunk at the hearings that will not have her world view on a lot of these issues. now, whether they're able to accept someone with a different world view and go ahead and judge and qualify and say the president deserves his staff and vote to confirm, that's an open question, but i do think her confirmation hearings will be more difficult. not as difficult as gaetz, but certainly a rocky ride. on

but what does that mean for gaetz? does he get a different position in the administration that doesn't require senate confirmation or the type of vetting that attorney general would require? that's a big question mark. i don't know exactly what's happening now, all we truly know is that donald trump has said he wants him to be next attorney general, and that has caused a lot of concern on the hill. >> maybe everybody set their hair on fire and this is a big reputation saver for matt gaetz, maybe donald trump there find something for him to do without the world seeing what's in the report. let's talk about what matt gaetz has done. defended january 6th. subject of another federal investigation. what do people inside the doj say? this is the highest role within their branch. >> it's five alarm fire within the doj if there were to go through. there's a lot of people not believing this is real when it happened this afternoon. couldn't possibly be true, sounds so out of crazy land they didn't believe it could be in the card

gaetz is the worst.e second worse. >> one of trump's former national security advisors, john bolton, yesterday reacting to the controversial trump nominations. trump picked tulsi gabbard, a former house democrat who ran for president in 2020 to be the director of national intelligence. she is a lieutenant colonel in the army reserve and has served in the hawaii national guard. she has never worked in the intelligence world or served on a congressional intelligence committee. back in 2017 when she was in congress, gabbard received criticism for meeting with syrian president al-assad who was accused of human rights violations and war crimes. gabbard defended her meeting at the time saying assad is quote, not the enemy of the united states. gabbard has often been at odds with assessments from the national community and has clashed with government analysts who say russian leader vladimir putin is the primary purveyor of disinformation that is designed to sew divisions in the u.s. two years ago, lawmakers acc

from that perspective, matt gaetz is a very logical choice. i think he will be a difficult one to confirm, i think there are a lot of republicans who either publicly or privately have serious doubts about this nomination. >> that is what people are talking about, i think without hyperbole in this case, about a constitutional crisis because it will pit donald trump against the senate , possibly. three potentials to get matt gaetz as attorney general, number one, hold confirmation hearings. one of the problems with confirmation hearings with a guy like matt gaetz? >> the problem is, you can have a public repudiation of trump's nominee. my strong suspicion is the senate will find a way to pull a plug on this before the nomination gets to the floor. the other thing, from trump's perspective, i think you will also be very focused on who the deputy attorney general is . the deputy attorney general is the person who actually runs the justice department on a day to day basis. if everyone is paying attention to the gaetz nomination as they should, we a

matt gaetz. you thought pete hegseth was surprising. matt gaetz. now symone sanders.now we want to talk to you about the democrats and i still do. but let's get your first reaction to matt gaetz. you're laughing. tell me. >> you knocked the earring out of my ear. let me say when we heard the first nominations put forward by president-elect trump, i heard from a number of democrats and even some republicans, particularly people work on the hill, you know, proxies for their ranking officials who say he could have nominated worse people. these don't seem bad, these are career individuals. i disagree with the -- the democrats saying i disagree with their ideology but we can work with them. then you heard the nomination of pete hegseth for secretary of defense. many said i want to take my comments back or, we don't know if this is true then you saw at the press release from the president-elect talking about this was his nomination. matt gaetz is interesting. what are the qualifications, if you will? and can he get through a senate confirmation process. tulsi gabbard. i kno

he is florida congressman matt gaetz. the word was within the last hour gaetz has resigned from congress which will end a house ethics committee investigation into him looking into allegations that he may have engaged in sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, except in improper gifts, dispensed special provisions and papers to individuals with whom he had a personal relationship. he denies the allegations. he was also investigated eye the justice department concerning sex crimes allegations, which he also denies. the dlj ultimately -- d.o.j. ultimately deciding against prosecuting him. here is some of the reaction from one democratic senator. >> matt gaetz is dangerously unqualified. this is going to be a red alert moment for american democracy. matt gaetz is being nominated for one reason, because he will implement donald trump transition of the department of justice from an agency that stands up for all of us to simply an arm of the white house designed to persecute and prosecute trump's political enemies . >> senate r

matt gaetz. of course we are not surprised that he picked matt gaetz and we won't be surprised who he picks after matt gaetz. now, the second piece of this, he made it clear. i don't want my nominees to have an fbi check. why do you think he said that? and then why you do think republicans were doing the backstroke to figure out a way so he could do that with the recess appointments. john tlooun, the majority leader for 30 seconds, we will take a look at that. yes. >> let me throw -- >> we'll -- >> i feel like i'm throwing in -- and you are dunking. we like that. here is another item for you to grab a hold of. republicans, nbc news reports as many as 30, that would be the majority of the republican senate caucus, told nbc at least 20, as many as 30 were uncomfortable with having to vote for gaetz on the senate floor. the wording matters. they weren't even claiming some deep principle opposition, but saying, please don't make them stand with this guy. does that also look to you like there is a lin

mark, i mean, is that why trump is putting matt gaetz, is that part of the reason he's putting gaetz to help him with all the pardons he wants to issue for these defendant requests m >> i can't obviously speak for the president- elect, but i think what you see in all of his cabinet picks, including matt gaetz, including some of the others that he's named is that he wants people who are going to be out there and be supportive of the american- first agenda, that the majority of americans voted to support. he doesn't want to see what happened in the early years of 2017, where we had a lot of people who were not fully aligned with the president's policy agenda, trying to invoke their policy views on the president rather than twag actually executing the plans of the president and the dually elected leader of the free world. i think all of these picks are about that. and it's really, i would say, a warning shot to the deep state, to the bureaucracy, that, remember, it's the people's elected representatives that are in charge, not you. >> kate, what do you make of that? >> look, i mean, thi

gaetz's nomination. report that has already been widely distributed to several people on capitol hill, which is a place known for being very leaky, and a lot of information often comes out of that chamber. >> and the fact that johnson has used the verbiage i am going to strongly request, that indicates he has no legal authority to keep that report from being released? >> it means that, for example, he knows that there is going to be pressure from within congress to see the report. and it is going to be hard for him to make a case for why. he does not have legal powers to say absolutely nobody else can see this. it is a product of congress. and realistically speaking, people have seen it and people do have copies of it. now, what he wants to do is he wants to basically take some of the heat off of matt gaetz. what i find interesting is that this is the nomination that seems to be the most hotly contested to be the nominee who republicans and democrats feel the most strongly about right now. however, linds

gaetz, whatever you think of gaetz, knows how to exploit those times of things. that's the perfect way for someone like matt gaetz to rise through the process, by becoming essentially his spokesman on capitol hill in many ways on the russia investigation. >> on the deep state which he now maybe could sit atop of. what are your contacts inside the department of justice saying? the anecdotal reporting that i've gotten has been somewhere between shock and horror. >> i was in the justice department. it was before the announcement was made and things were already somewhat somber. after the announcement was made, a flood of messages, you know, expressing shock and dismay. the career prosecutors who work there for democratic and republican administrations are planning to stay. i think even this announcement of gaetz as the nominee will cause them to double down. most people who have worked there many, many years under both parties care deeply about the institution and they will stay and try to carry out their jobs. if they get asked to do something illegal, they will de

gaetz and gabbard? for the last week i've heard from a lot of people in donald trump sorbed to have told me, over and over, just wait. he's going to pivot to the middle, he will govern for all of america. well these nominees today, what they say is that trump is ready to fill the government with people who are unfit for the jobs. it appears, here, that the chief qualification his contempt for the very roles that they are being picked for. we are at the start of a journey with a president elect that is going to last for years. tulsa gabbard and matt gaetz. that is where we are tonight. deep breath. when we return, elon musk is used to calling the shots as ceo. he's about to learn just how slow the wheels of government actually move. does he have the patience? >>> later, our political panel has more to say about trump's latest cabinet picks. "the 11th hour" is just getting underway. what are folks 60 and older learning these days? new perspectives! ♪♪ how to fix things. ♪♪ fun recip... (high pitched sound

so the terms that representative gaetz used was code words.r his favorite term was party favors. >> what did your clients tell the committee that party favors or vitamins met? >> so it was mdma or molly or ecstasy, which was present at every one of the gatherings. >> and your clients testified to doing these illicit drugs with matt gaetz? >> no, they did mdma at every party, ecstasy at every party. they actually were specifically questioned about whether or not they witnessed representative gaetz taking the drugs while he requested them. they didn't recall a specific incident where he put ecstasy in his mouth. so they testified that they didn't recall that. >> do you think there was some pressure around taking drugs? >> yes. that they were expected to take drugs. some of the text messages that they produced said, i don't really want to go to this event because i don't want to do drugs. they did testify that the drugs sometimes impaired their judgment and that they were expected to do drugs, but then they were forced to do drugs, but that the d

if it were not for, say, matt gaetz. so you just heard matt joel leppard, the women, the attorney for two of the women who say gaetz paid them for sex their high school friend, high school friend was having sex on an air hockey table when she's 17 years old with matt gaetz and these sorts of parties and events and groups of people in these ages, he's 35, was commonplace and happening all the time he had at least ten instances over the period of a few months that that he says his clients say this happened. they testified to the ethics committee. so can i just ask you, because you were on the ethics committee, are they going to or sorry, you were on the ethics committee monday do you think, matt, that this is going to become public? are we going to see this report yeah i'd be surprised if you don't see at least aspects of it leak and whether it's from the committee itself, whether it's when the senate requests the information and then you'll have individual senate offices potentially leak it. >> i think more of this is goi

we got a lot of gaetz s, yes.ut it was distracting from the other folks who are currently under consideration. what are you hearing about them? any sticking points, any one that seems like potentially they're not going to get confirmed? >> reporter: well, look, we talk about gaetz as a lightning rod l constantly. and typically we're talking about him as a lightning rod because of the controversy that the stirs and the way he generally finds himself in the middle of or concocting a lot of the news cycles up here on capitol hill. but the practical of being a lightning rod is the thing that you're hitting on here, this idea that gaetz in basically sucking all the oxygen out of the room has provided some cover for senators to either not have to talk about their concerns with the other nominees, or that they're just overshadowed, but clearly now that gaetz has taken his name out of contention for attorney general, it does leave more spotlight for the other he nominees, and i think you bring up rfk jr., you bring up tul

trump tonight, meantime, is said to be all in on gaetz. and cnn is now reporting that trump is calling senators personally to push them to confirm gaetz. as for gaetz himself, he continues to deny the allegations the person >> i have not had a relationship with a 17 year old that is totally false. >> but there's the 17 year old issue, which is very deep and very serious. but in addition to that, there is a long list of concerns about gaetz. remember that the ethics committee is investigating allegations that gaetz quote. let me just look at the full parameter here. engaged in sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, accepted improper gifts, dispensed special privileges and favors to individuals with whom he had a personal relationship, and sought to obstruct government investigations of his conduct. and many republicans have been very clear about their issues with gaetz and how he conducts himself he was accused of sleeping with an underage girl and there's a reason why no one in the conference came and defended him, because we had all seen

gaetz has consistently denied the allegation.aid yesterday it will be an honor to serve as trump's attorney general. here is what he said just last year about being attorney general. >> it may be an attorney general matt gaetz down the road or someone of my liking who will be there to actually enforce the law and provide the accountability. >> i like that. i like that. attorney general matt gaetz. are you kidding me? >> the world is not ready probably, certainly senate confirmation wouldn't be. >> we are getting there. >> a boy can dream. >> joining us now nbc's dasha burns and ryan nobles with us. former federal prosecutor and senior writer at politico and peter baker, chief white house correspondent at "the new york times." dash a, what's the message trump is sending with these choices? >> jose, the message sounds certainly like it's my washington, it's a new washington, and the rule book is out the window. look, matt gaetz is someone who has consistently criticized the very people that he will be working with as attorney gener

donald trump and matt gaetz feel be grieved by the justice department and gaetz has been a long time -- will tested by fire in the presidents eyes can will trusted by the president, the president-elect. if he gets in the office you can, rest assured, according to trumps advisors and people who are familiar with his thinking, that matt gaetz is going to investigate the investigators. both those that investigate him and those who investigated former president trump. so this is a serious thing that they are doing. in their minds it doesn't really matter if the democrats don't like this. what matters to them is that they have the votes in the senate. it was pointed out there's this new procedure, new move to allow for recessive appointments that the senate republican leader has agreed to. and matt gaetz was among those who helped formulate that plan and policy with former president trump to get him to do that. if he doesn't get confirmed you could possibly see a recess appointment made by former president trump , or president trump at the time. i don't think this is a negotiation. there'

gaetz as former congressman? that's due to the most serious concern about his being entrusted with this new responsibility. while mr. gaetz just won reelection in the 118th congress is still in session, he resigned his seat in the house of representatives last week. why? why would he quit the house at this point if he's just been reelected? it was an apparent attempt to prevent the house ethics committee from releasing a damaging report on his personal alleged misconduct. mr. gaetz has been accused of engaging in sexual misconduct with a minor, illicit drug use, sex trafficking, bribery and investigations into his alleged conduct. i might remind those listening to debate, we're talking about donald trump's choice to be the attorney general of the united states of america. these grave public allegations against mr. gaetz speak directly to his fitness to serve. let me add that president-elect tr trump's announced intent to offer mr. gaetz' nomination without even a standard fbi background check that every president

matt gaetz is also a january 6th truther. as early as january 6, 2021, the actual day of the insurrection, gaetz is promoting baseless conspiracies that the capitol riot was instigated by the fbi and antifa. >> i don't know if the reports are true, but the "washington times" has just reported some pretty compelling evidence from a facial recognition company showing the people who breached the capital today were not trump's supporters, they were masquerading as trump's supporters and in fact were members of the violent terrorist group, antifa. >> he is one of primary defenders of the january 6th rioters, and has held hearings alleging the mistreatment of the january 6th offenders. >> the criminal feature of our gathering today is to better understand how people were treated in the follow along to january 6th. >> we are here to expose the truth, to ask me questions about what happened on january 6, who animated the violence, the extent to which the federal government may have been involved. we know this, january 6th last year w

gaetz denies. and moments ago, the top democrat on the ethics committee appears to be at odds with the republican chairman. cnn anchor kaitlan collins is covering the trump transition from west palm beach, florida. but let's start with cnn's lauren fox on capitol hill. lauren, the house ethics chair, told reporters there was no agreement among the committee to release the report on gaetz. but democrats are taking issue with what he said yeah democrats essentially want to make clear that democrats did want to release this report. >> susan wild who is the top democrat on the committee, had this to say after guest's comments i do not want the american public or aon

matt gaetz was a very frequent presence on the campaign trail, and to the point that when matt gaetzhing the motion to vacate and boot kevin mccarthy out, there was one vote in which matt gaetz said he put up donald trump's name to be speaker of the house, i think at this point in time, for donald trump, clearly, when matt whitaker was up for consideration to be the attorney general, got the nato ambassador here, but there were questions around these other names, schmidt didn't want to take the job, that ultimately would be able to fail wholly and when you look at those names and you have a hard time coming up with anybody else that would be 100% that we would have confidence.>> vaughn hillyard , chuck todd, jake sherman, thank you for sticking with us for the first 45 minutes of the show. still ahead, what the aclu is demanding as the incoming trump administration vows to deport millions of migrants, the information they say they need. d have you compared your medicare plan recently? with ehealth, you can compare medicare plans side by side for free. so we invited people to give ehe

besides matt gaetz?m sure there are some people. probably left good tips at waiters, various restaurants around the capitol. i don't know. it is a -- this is an interesting choice, because it is, to me, just donald trump testing exactly how powerful he is. look, second- term presidents, he now is, we went through this with bush a little bit. ran into turbulence with some things we tried to do early in the second term after winning the national popular vote and it did not work out. sometimes second- term presidents do feel a little bit more powerful than maybe they are. the senate is just harder to control, particularly when you've got so many senators that probably don't have any strings on them from trump the way you would in the house. >> on that, these senators have to look to midterms and their own -- some of these people want to run for president in 2028. he doesn't have the political capital as the first term because this is his second term. some senators might not go along with the confirmations b

was gaetz going to get indicted. and this really hung over gaetz. and ultimately the justice department declined to charge gaetz, and some of the -- the department never gave a reason for that. the department usually doesn't when they decide not to charge someone, but allowed gaetz to mutt out a statement which he said he had not been charged. some of the question about whether he wasn't charge, was it because the girl was basically 17 and 3/4 and close to 18, was that the reason why they had not brought the charge, she was so close to the age of 18, because had he been charged with it and had he been convicted, it would have been a ten-year mandatory minimum sentence. that's as serious as it comes at the federal level. >> mike, the republican establishment seems to -- not even the establishment. the maga republicans don't have any affection or affinity for matt gaetz. trey gowdy said, quote, i can't tell you the psychiatric diagnosis for matt gaetz. i can just tell you he is dangerous for the republican party. another fox news anchor said, quote, i

this is from matt gaetz.ngs with senators yesterday, i appreciate their thoughtful feedback and the incredible support of so many. with the momentum strong, it is clear my confirmation was unfairly becoming a distraction to the critical work of the trump/vance transition. there is no time to waste on a protracted washington scuffle, thus i'll be withdrawing my name from conversation to serve as attorney general. trump's doj must be in place and ready on day one. i remain fully committed to see that donald j. trump is the most successful president in history. i will forever be honored the president trump nominated me to lead the department of justice and i'm certain he will save america. matt gaetz, eight days, andrea, after being nominated and his name being put into the fold for attorney general of the united states is dropping out. this all while there was debate within the house ethics committee over whether to release the ethics report, looking into the allegations that he had a sexual interactions with a

daddy gaetz, and baby gaetz. the behavior continues and it ends up following him until this week., i think it's important with all of the news this week that we make very clear, matt gaetz didn't resign the house because he was nominated by donald trump to be attorney general. he resigned the house to prevent this from coming out. whether he had been nominated as attorney general or not, he would have resigned before third-this had come out because it prevents the committee from taking action. and understand,s committee's action could be censure, reprimand or a recommendation to expel matt gaetz from the house of representatives, someone who's still young, who has gotten away with a lot since me entered politics, maybe the next governor of florida at some point, and understand also with the house, it's a different question, a different burden of proof than u.s. prosecutors having to decide whether or not they could take this case fully to prosecution or not. for the house ethics committee, if they decide there's enough evidence, they release it and make a recommendation. that reco

gaetz as former congressman? that's due to the most serious concern about his being entrusted with this new responsibility. while mr. gaetz just won reelection in the 118th congress is still in session, he resigned his seat in the house of representatives last week. why? why would he quit the house at this point if he's just been reelected? it was an apparent attempt to prevent the house ethics committee from releasing a damaging report on his personal alleged misconduct. mr. gaetz has been accused of engaging in sexual misconduct with a minor, illicit drug use, sex trafficking, bribery and investigations into his alleged conduct. i might remind those listening to debate, we're talking about donald trump's choice to be the attorney general of the united states of america. these grave public allegations against mr. gaetz speak directly to his fitness to serve. let me add that president-elect tr trump's announced intent to offer mr. gaetz' nomination without even a standard fbi background check that every president

donald trump picked gaetz. gaetz is now stranger to controversy. he continues to face a house ethics committee over allegations he may have, quote, engaged in sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, accepted improper gifts and favors to individuals he had a personal relationship. matt gaetz vociferously denies all of the charges. t. >> they lie about me because i tell the truth about them and i'm not going to stop! so when you see the leaks and the lies and the falsehoods and the smears, when you see the anonymous sources and insiders forecasting my demise, know this. they aren't really coming for me. they're coming for you. i'm just in the way. >> that was matt gaetz in 2021, we should note. so he was right that the reports of his demise were premature. to note, the gaetz had sought a pardon from trump over a justice department investigation. that is according to a trump aide who testified at the january 6th hearing. the gaetz pick comes after president- elect trump and president biden met for the first time today at the oval office as the preside

after they actually sat down with gaetz. but one thing that is just so interesting about all of this is the fact that donald trump had been hammering down behind closed doors, that this was the most important pick to him, that he believed that this was something he had to stand by. he wanted matt gaetz to be the, quote, unquote effective communicator. now obviously, we'll see. we're back to the drawing board on attorney general. we know that when it came to matt gaetz, he wasn't even on the original short list. it was decided on a plane ride from west palm beach or palm beach to d.c. and back. and that's when that announcement came. so we are going to have to play this out now. but now there are more critical positions, including secretary of treasury, that have yet to clear that this is going to be something they're going to turn their full attention to, because remember, dana overall, this is their this is their number one thing. this is what donald trump believes the most important cabinet position is. >> yeah. okay. than

what is your reaction to matt gaetz as attorney general, right now, would you support it? me that people are reacting the way they are, what you just showed because there has been no one better at channeling the american public's frustration with weaponization through the department of justice than matt gaetz, you can understand the president's frustration with the doj, during his campaign. they used a fake dossier to spy on him, look what happened in the first trump administration, this fake host, the doj investigated him for years doing that, in 2020, the doj went to big tech and had them censor hunter biden's laptop. and if you think about what just happened, the doj, their colleagues around the country brought five different cases to try president biden's top opponent, president trump. i can understand his frustration and wanting to put an agent of change in place.>> i don't want to litigate what happened with donald trump because there is a lot of evidence to support the indictments -- >> the american people spoke louder than anybody, and their reaction to all of this

gaetz denies all of this.aetz and trump folks are saying is they didn't charge him and he was cleared by the doj. clearly they are correct he was not charged for this, whatever the investigation bore out. >> correct. he was not charged. others were. the chief accuser of his, joel greenberg who was a local tax collector in florida pled guilty and cooperated against gaetz and talked about how he saw gaetz having sex with a 17-year-old girl. one of the women who is a client of the lawyer has told congressional investigators she saw mr. gaetz having sex with a 17-year-old. it is true. the department did not charge gaetz. but what you are seeing, and it makes sense. if gaetz's nomination goes forward he will almost certainly, you would think, be asked at his hearing whether he had sex with women for money. you know, that will put him in a position where he will have to answer the question. he could take the fifth amendment if he thought he had criminal exposure and did not want to answer it. whatever he says to the

elon musk, matt gaetz and donald trump. trump immediately announced matt gaetz for attorney general with elon musk full support. then, elon musk went to work lobbying the united states senate publicly to confirm matt gaetz. he just needed to convince 50 of next year's 53 republican senators to vote for matt gaetz. and here is how he lobbied those senate republicans. matt gaetz has three critical assets that are needed for the ag role, a big brain, a spine of steel, and an axe to grind. he is the judge dreadamerica needs to clean up corrupt system and put powerful bad actors in prison. i promise you 82-year-old-year- old mitch mcconnell does not know who judge dredd is. as for these accusations against him i considered them worth less than nothing under our laws, a man is considered innocent until proven guilty. if ag garland could have secured a conviction against gaetz he would have, but he knew he could not, case close. elon musk thought the case was closed. elon musk told republican senators the case was closed and repub

the fbi already knows a lot about matt gaetz from its criminal investigation of a friend of matt gaetz who is now serving time for sex trafficking. that information should be included in the fbi's background report that is normally provided to the senate judiciary committee. now we know why donald trump said the other day, he wants to bypass the confirmation process for his nominees. donald trump wants possibly unconfirmable nominees like matt gaetz to take their nomination through recess appointments and that is possible only when the senate is in recess for at least ten days. then in the event of what is supposed to be an emergency vacancy that has to be filled, the president can appoint someone without senate confirmation. that appointment is only good for approximately 18 months to a maximum of two years until the next congress is sworn in. matt gaetz was promised a recess appointment before he was publicly chosen by senator rick scott of florida, who was one of the candidates for republican majority leader of the senate. rick scott it was only one the three candidates who immediat

for a lot of good reasons, matt gaetz is a firebrand . he has a long history of controversial statements, of clashes with leadership . he has been in a personal vendetta against former speaker kevin mccarthy for a number of years. as you said, this is certainly not a very pro-matt gaetz congress , but it is an increasingly pro- maga congress. the question becomes, can matt gaetz get confirmed by the senate ? we saw a new senate install yesterday, someone in johnstown john thune , not necessarily, or probably more of an establishment figure that anyone else in that body. but listen to what senator tommy tuberville had to say about what he expects for the confirmations going forward. >> i have already seen with a couple of them say, i'm not voting for him, wait a minute, you are not the united states of america. you have one vote at senate, you did not get elected president. both with president trump . this is the last chance we will have at saving this country, if you want to get in the way, find, but we will try to get you out of the way

matt gaetz is unique in one regard. he is almost unanimously loathed by everyone in the republican party. regardless of ideology. that is of course in large part because he forced out republican speaker of the house kevin mccarthy, apparently because look at the refused to squash and ethics probe into gaetz's conduct, according to mccarthy. here is how mccarthy put it. >> i will give you the truth of why i am not speaker because one person, a member of congress wanted me to stop an ethics complaint because he slept with a 17-year-old and ethics complete that started before i ever became speaker and that is illegal and i'm not going to get in the middle.>> gaetz denies the allegations as i said. the stunt that gaetz pulled which was kicking mccarthy out of the speakership, right, with a vote of no-confidence did not make a many friends in congress. just sent to republican senator mark when my one of oklahoma just a year ago. >> the media did not give the time of day to after he was accused of sleeping with an underage gi

gaetz denied any wrong doing. tonight many republicans backing trump's choice. >> matt gaetz and i, there's no question that we've had our differences. they've been very public about it. i completely trust president trump's decision making on this one. >> what do you think the selection of matt gaetz says about what donald trump thinks about the department of justice. >> well, i think he thinks the department of justice, what a lot of us think, it's gone rogue, it's gone even corrupt in many respects. >> reporter: trump also making his selection of marco rubio to be his secretary of state official today. senator rubio should be confirmed relatively easily, but several of these other picks could face difficult confirmation battles. and we now know who will lead the charge on those battles, it's new senate majority leader john thune of south dakota who was elected just today, lester? >> garrett, thank you. we heard the reaction on capitol hill to the gaetz pick. laura is tracking reaction inside the justice departme