This is an adapted excerpt from the Nov. 14 episode of “Morning Joe.”
On Wednesday, President-elect Donald Trump announced his plans to nominate Rep. Matt Gaetz to be U.S. attorney general. Since that announcement, there’s been a lot of discussion about how Gaetz lacks the qualifications for the post.
Now, in a sense, everybody is unqualified for that office. The work of the Justice Department is so deep, broad and complex that no one can come in truly prepared for all of it. Nobody comes in knowing everything about tax or antitrust or civil rights or criminal or civil or environmental work. They do not know the intricacies of the work of its many divisions, from the Federal Bureau of Prisons to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. So concern over Trump’s pick for AG is not just that Gaetz is unqualified (though he is).
In any attorney general, you look for certain qualities. Whether they are Republican, Democrat, male, female, Black, white — all of that is meaningless as long as they have three qualities: integrity, judgment and independence. With those qualities, you can handle the job.
The work of the Justice Department is so deep, broad and complex that no one can come in truly prepared for it.
I first came into the Justice Department when Dick Thornburgh was the U.S. attorney general. Thornburgh, who served in the Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations, was a Republican and former U.S. attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania. He later became the state’s governor. He was a man of tremendous integrity, honor, judgment and intellect. He was passionate about the work of the department and he understood the norms.
I also served under Janet Reno, the U.S. attorney general during Bill Clinton’s administration. Reno reportedly drove Clinton crazy because of her independence — but that’s exactly what the Justice Department needs.
Even Trump’s first attorney general, Jeff Sessions, disappointed the then-president when he recused himself from stewardship of the investigation into Russian election interference. And President Joe Biden might not have been too happy with Attorney General Merrick Garland when his son, Hunter Biden, was indicted and when Garland appointed a special counsel to investigate the president’s mishandling of classified information. Both of these attorneys general also demonstrated their independence.
That is what good attorneys general have in common. However, with Gaetz, you might end up with somebody who is wholly unqualified for the job coupled with somebody who lacks integrity, judgment and independence.
If you are wondering what it looks like if Gaetz becomes the attorney general of the United States, to put it bluntly, it will be a train wreck.
Allison Detzel contributed.
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