Gaetz pick raises fears that Trump will seek 'retribution' on political foes

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

43% : Smith is now in the process of winding down his two investigations and planning to leave his post before Trump takes office in January given that Gaetz would almost certainly move to drop the cases at Trump's request, say ex-DoJ prosecutors.
36% : Above all, the choice of Gaetz underscores the premium Trump places on selecting a loyalist who can help him expand his powers at the DoJ to further his revenge agenda, and avoid the conflicts Trump had at times with Jeff Sessions and Bill Barr when they were attorneys general in his first administration.
36% : While Trump has hedged at times about just how many people he would pardon of the more than 1,500 convicted of crimes for taking part in the violent attack on the Capitol, he told a CNN town hall in May 2023: "I am inclined to pardon many of them.""I am concerned that he may recklessly and contemptuously pardon the most serious of the January 6 perpetrators despite their insurrection and violence," Ty Cobb, a former Trump White House lawyer and ex-DoJ official, said.
32% : "Other ex-prosecutors worry Trump now may move aggressively to target his political foes given the supreme court ruling this year that handed presidents broad immunity for their official acts.
31% : Meanwhile, it's not clear what will happen with Smith's extensive work documenting his charges against Trump for conspiring to overturn his loss in 2020 and leaving office with a large cache of classified documentsSmith is reportedly working on a final report about his findings in the two federal cases charging Trump with criminal conduct to submit to Merrick Garland, which the attorney general has the option of making public before he leaves office.
30% : Fueling those fears was the president-elect's stunning decision to choose ultra-loyalist and firebrand Florida representative Matt Gaetz to be his attorney general and help fight what Trump calls a "weaponized government" that he says baselessly used a special counsel to file criminal charges against him for trying to subvert his 2020 election loss.
30% : But in tapping Gaetz, Trump lavishly praised him, declaring he "will end Weaponized Government, protect our Borders, dismantle Criminal Organizations and restore Americans' badly-shattered Faith and Confidence in the Justice Department".
30% : In another sign on Thursday that Trump is moving aggressively to overhaul the DoJ, he tapped Todd Blanche, the key lawyer who defended him against the Smith charges and the 34 counts of business fraud that he was convicted on in New York, to be deputy attorney general.
29% : In another legal area, critics say that if Trump goes ahead with granting many presidential pardons to January 6 insurrectionists as he's suggested, that would be very damaging to the rule of law and DoJ morale.
27% : Trump and his lawyers have vehemently denied Smith's charges.
22% : Vengeance for Trump and further violence to the rule of law beyond what Trump's crimes to date have seen are the desired consequences of having Gaetz as AG," he said.
20% : Critics worry too that the rule of law and DoJ will be badly weakened in light of Trump's often calling those convicted of crimes for their violent actions during the January 6 insurrection to block the certification of Biden's win "patriots", and suggested that he would grant many pardons when he takes office.
15% : Last month, Trump said he'd fire Smith in "two seconds" and that Smith ought to be "thrown out of the country".
13% : "An order by Trump to his attorney general to prosecute his rivals would be barred from prosecution," giving Trump a freer hand to target his foes.
3% : Further, Trump's picking Gaetz jibed with older concerns about Trump's debunked claims he was the victim of a vendetta and "lawfare" led by the special counsel Jack Smith, who filed criminal charges against Trump for conspiring to subvert his 2020 loss and for improperly taking hundreds of classified documents after he left office.

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