FEAR OF A NEW POLITIZATION

Former Justice Department officials said they feared Gaetz was seeking to politicize the operations of the agency, which has a decades-old tradition of independence from the White House.

“I fear that anyone who becomes attorney general with the aim of politicizing the work of the ministry risks not only undermining the rule of law, but also the important safeguards that exist to protect the legitimacy of the work of the ministry,” Johnathan said . Smith, a former deputy attorney general who left the Justice Department earlier this year.

Bradley Moss, a national security lawyer, said that in previous administrations, someone with Gaetz’s experience would have raised concerns about his ability to pass security clearance exams.

“I would be shocked to see someone with his background be exonerated under ordinary circumstances,” Moss said.

A Justice Department spokesperson declined to comment on the selection.

Gaetz worked at a Florida law firm before being elected to the House in 2016, the year Trump was first elected.

In a social media post published hours before Trump announced his nomination, Gaetz said: “We should have full legal pressure on this ARMED government that has turned against our people. And if that means REMOVING every three-letter agency from the FBI to the ATF, I’m ready to go!”

The FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and Explosives, or ATF, are units of the Department of Justice.

Gaetz’s appointment could signal that the Trump administration will pursue an aggressive approach to antitrust enforcement, particularly with respect to big tech, which began under Trump and was popularized by Biden’s antitrust enforcers, including Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan.

Gaetz filed a legal brief in support of the FTC’s ban on companies requiring workers to enter into non-competition agreements, a rule that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce business lobbying group has sued for justice to block.

He also praised the work of the Justice Department under Biden in the antitrust lawsuits against Google, and warned the company in August that it must comply with any remedy imposed in the event a judge finds that it has a illegal monopoly in online search.