Last year, Oklahoma senator Markwayne Mullin called out Matt Gaetz for allegedly bragging about taking erectile dysfunction meds and drinking energy drinks so he could “go all night” with underage girls, but following Donald Trump’s Wednesday announcement that he is tapping Gaetz to be his new attorney general, Mullin has walked back his critiques.
Mullin told CNN host Jake Tapper that he still has “a lot of questions” about Gaetz, but that he “completely trust[s] Trump’s decision-making on this one.”
When Tapper asked if Mullin would vote for Gaetz, the senator responded, “You know Matt Gaetz and I, there’s no question that we’ve had our differences. We’ve been very public about it.”
Besides Mullin’s objections to the behavior that led to Gaetz being the subject of a sex-trafficking investigation, the senator accused Gaetz of “living off [his] daddy’s money” after the Florida congressman moved to ban members of Congress from trading stocks.
He said that Gaetz “[has] got to come to Congress and sell himself, he’s got to go to the Senate and sell himself. There’s a lot of questions that are going to be out there. He’s got to answer those questions. And hopefully he’s able to answer the questions. And if he can, then we’ll go through the confirmation process.”
If Gaetz is confirmed by the Senate, he will succeed Attorney General Merrick Garland, who led investigation into allegations that the congressman violated federal law by paying for sex, including with underage girls, and helped transport them across state lines.
ABC and CNN reported on Wednesday that Gaetz is still subject to an ethics probe.
Trump said on Truth Social that Gaetz will “end weaponized government, protect our borders, dismantle criminal organizations and restore Americans’ badly-shattered faith and confidence in the Justice Department.”
In response, Gaetz posted to X: “It will be an honor to serve.”
Trump’s AG in his first term was Jeff Sessions.
