11-14-24 Interview - Katelynn Richardson - Matt Gaetz as AG

THIS IS NOT WHAT RECESS APPOINTMENTS ARE FOR When I heard yesterday that Trump wanted the Senate to come to order and then recess so he could make recess appointments for his Cabinet, especially with Matt Gaetz, I got mad. This is NOT what recess appointment power is supposed to be used for. Obama got his hand slapped by the Supreme Court when he appointed a bunch of people to the National Labor Relations Board in this fashion and the more conservative justices all joined an opinion by the late great Antonin Scalia in which he said: As Scalia explained in a lengthy statement from the bench that followed Breyer’s summary of the Court’s decision, he and his three colleagues would have held that the president’s recess appointments power is substantially more limited than the Court ruled today. For example, they would have ruled that the president can only make recess appointments during inter-session recesses, and only then to fill vacancies that are created during that recess. And the majority did not escape Scalia’s trademark incisive remarks, as he criticized it for relying on an “adverse-possession theory of executive authority: “Presidents have long claimed the powers in question, and the Senate has not disputed those claims with sufficient vigor, so the Court should not ‘upset the compromises and working arrangements that the elected branches of Government themselves have reached.’”Three of the justices who joined this opinion are still on the bench and have been joined by even more conservative justices so I would expect Trump to have his nominations invalidated too. By the way, Gaetz already resigned from Congress. None of the other appointees have. You know why he resigned? Because the House Ethics investigation was due to release their findings,which now won't happen because he isn't a member of Congress. How convenient. I've got Daily Caller News Foundation reporter Katelynn Richardson on at 2:30 to discuss.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Kaitlyn Richardson. She is with the Daily Caller News Foundation
and a reporter, and we're going to talk a little
Matt Gates as AG. I do want to throw two
things out for you. Republican David McCormick has won the
Senate seat that was being held by Senator Bob Casey.
Republicans take another Senate seat to pad their lead. And
if you missed it, Trump has announced rfk Junior for

(00:23):
Health and Human Services Secretary. So two of those things
happened during the show. Just want to make sure we
get those in. Caitlin, welcome to the show.

Speaker 2 (00:31):
Thanks so much for having me on. So give me your.

Speaker 1 (00:34):
View on the Matt Gates appointment to Attorney General.

Speaker 2 (00:39):
Right, So, what I've been hearing in what a lot
of people have been expressing is this was not a
pick that was on anybody's radar. I think there's a
lot of surprise surrounding this nomination and a lot of
questions about how it'll go, whether it'll whether he'll be
able to be confirmed in the Senate, whether the I

(01:00):
thinks report will still come out. There's a lot of
questions right now during this nomination. But I think what
Trump was trying to do in nominating Matt Gates again
is another question, but it seems to me from conversations
I've had that you know, Gates is an outsider, He's
a disruptor, and I think that's something that Trump is

(01:22):
looking for in the Department of Justice. He wants someone
who's going to implement his agenda. He's going to be loyal,
and I think there's some concern that there might be
career staffs who are working against him, and he wants
someone who's going to be tough and able to manage
that and get through what he wants done.

Speaker 1 (01:43):
I think the second part of that is correct, that
he wants somebody who's going to be tough, who's going
to be strong, who's going to you know, strip the
doj of its left wing politicization. But I got to
tell you, I feel like Matt Gates is the sacrificial
lamb in this appointment side, that he's going to suck
up all the negative oxygen. And the fact that he

(02:04):
immediately resigned from the House just before the House Ethics
Committee report was supposed to come out, it just calls
this whole thing into question. Although I also kind of
feel like this is one of those moves where Trump
is utilizing a kind of Trumpian strategicy, that he's using

(02:25):
this appointment to get some other something done, maybe a
mass resignation at the Department of Justice before the Attorney
General takes over. I don't know, but this certainly seems
like it came out of left field.

Speaker 2 (02:38):
I think you're right. I think that's certainly a possibility
that I've heard as well, that nominating Matt Gates was,
you know, potentially a way to get another nominee and
later on, whether that be Mark Paletta or not Lager,
someone else who has been one of the more expected candidates.
I think also this could draw attention away from his

(02:59):
other nominees. Know, all the focuses on Matt Gates and
the media's attention and the Senate's attention, I think some
of the other nominees, which we're also unexpected, might not
get that same criticism, And that is a possibility. Again,
we don't fully know what President Trump is thinking when

(03:19):
he puts his nomination through yet, but there aren't certainly
a lot of questions that were made to be answered.

Speaker 1 (03:26):
Is there any scuttle but in DC, any rumors about
what's in that House Ethics report? Has anything come out
leaked or in otherwise that you know of, I.

Speaker 2 (03:35):
Don't know yet that it has leaked. Obviously, it was
supposed to there's vote was supposed to be on Friday
for it to come out, and as we mentioned, his
red insignation is kind of through rent in that. But
it does seem that we're going to see it eventually,
Like I think that it probably will leak. Obviously a

(03:58):
lot of senators have interested in seeing that, I see
everyone else. So it's like we will. We'll know at
some point, but not now. Well.

Speaker 1 (04:08):
CBS News right now is reporting that the Ethics Committee
is going to be meeting to schedule a vote on
Friday to decide whether or not to release its report.
So we'll hopefully know something soon, and I'm guessing they're
going to act quickly if there's any there there, you
know what I mean, Like, if if there's something in

(04:28):
this report, then we're going to see it right away.
If it just peters out, if it just kind of
goes away, then I would think there wouldn't be that
much in the report, And they're using that we don't
know to cast doubt over Matt Gates. I mean, that's
the only thing that I could imagine if they don't
release it, it just honestly makes them look kind of
guilty without actually proving anything, you know what I mean.

Speaker 2 (04:51):
Yeah, And I think this will be interesting to watch
play out. This is a very important appointment for President Trump,
rest or most close to having have expressed a desire
to combat censorship, combat laws here that he experienced over
the past couple of years, to pardon January sixth defendants.

(05:13):
These are all goals that you want to accomplish through DJ.
So whoever end up finally in this position is going
to be very important.

Speaker 1 (05:21):
Well, I appreciate the insight. This is going to be
a very interesting confirmation hearing to watch. Caitlin Richardson from
the Daily Caller News Foundation, thanks for your time today.

Speaker 2 (05:31):
Thank you.