Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) on Oct. 12, 2024. Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images
By Jacob Kornbluh
November 13, 2024
President-elect Donald Trump raised eyebrows Wednesday when he announced the nomination of Rep. Matt Gaetz, 42, to head the Justice Department.
Gaetz, who is currently under investigation by the House Ethics Committee for sexual misconduct, faced backlash earlier this year when he explained his vote against a bipartisan bill aimed at addressing rising antisemitism in colleges and universities by invoking an antisemitic falsehood: that Jews killed Jesus.
The Antisemitism Awareness Act, would require the Department of Education to use the controversial International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism — which classifies most anti-Zionism as antisemitic — when investigating allegations of discrimination. It passed the House in May 320-91.
The justice department oversees the prosecution of violent extremism and hate crimes.
Gaetz called the Anti-Defamation League “racist” in 2021 after it urged Fox News to fire then-host Tucker Carlson for promoting the antisemitic Great Replacement Theory. In 2019, Gaetz suggested that George Soros, the Hungarian-born Jewish billionaire and frequent target of antisemitic tropes, was behind an alleged migrant caravan.
In his first term in the House, Gaetz defended giving a ticket for the State of the Union to Chuck Johnson, a right-wing troll who once denied the Holocaust. He also hired a Trump White House speechwriter who was fired after it was reported he appeared at a conference featuring a white nationalist.
Amy Spitalnick, chief executive of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA), said it was “deeply concerning ” that Gaetz was nominated with this history “If he is to serve as attorney general, he should unequivocally make clear that he rejects all forms of hate and bigotry,” she said.
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