As President-elect Donald Trump has steadily unveiled his choices for his second presidential administration’s cabinet, incoming New Jersey Senator Andy Kim has largely stayed quiet. There are still at least two months to go before any of the nominees will come to the Senate floor for a vote, not to mention the hours upon hours of confirmation hearings during which senators can learn more about the nominees in question.
But Trump’s nomination of Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz to become the next U.S. attorney general was enough for Kim to break his silence.
“I was originally going to hold off on commenting on nominations at this stage but I cannot stay quiet here,” Kim said. “I don’t need a confirmation hearing to know that Matt Gaetz is not qualified for Attorney General. I will not support his confirmation.”
Gaetz, who has served with Kim in the House for the last six years, is a controversial figure by any measure. A staunch Trump ally, he was the representative who triggered the motion to remove former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy last year, throwing the House into chaos; he’s also currently under investigation by the House Ethics Committee over sexual misconduct and illicit drug use allegations.
Gaetz’s nomination to become the country’s top law enforcement officer was shocking enough that a large number of Republican senators are already publicly expressing their doubts. Alaska Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski, per Politico, said she doesn’t even “think it’s a serious nomination for the attorney general.”
But Kim is among the first senators from either party to conclusively say he will vote against Gaetz. (Kim’s fellow New Jerseyan, Senator Cory Booker, has not yet said whether he’d be open to voting for the Florida congressman, though it’s extremely hard to believe the liberal senator would seriously consider the possibility.)
Gaetz is one of a number of contentious nominations Trump has made in recent days, following on the heels of Director of National Intelligence nominee Tulsi Gabbard and Defense Secretary nominee Pete Hegseth. How Kim and Booker will approach such nominations – and more traditional nominees like Marco Rubio and Lee Zeldin – remains to be seen in the weeks and months ahead.