The newly elected US President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday that his candidate for the post of Minister of Justice is the Republican congressman Matt Gaetz. TASR informs about it based on a report by Reuters and AFP.
“Matt … will protect our borders, dismantle criminal organizations and restore Americans’ severely damaged trust in the Department of Justice,” Trump said in a statement. His nomination for the post of Minister of Justice will have to be approved by the Senate, in which the Republicans have a majority.
Close associates of the president-elect have indicated that the attorney general will be the most important member of the administration after Trump himself. as he will be in charge of carrying out mass deportations of illegal immigrants and pardoning the rioters who attacked the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
He chose a 43-year-old woman as the new director of the US Secret Service (DNI). Tulsi Gabbard, a former Democrat, but currently a critic of the administration of the outgoing US President Joe Biden, advocating, among other things, US support for Ukraine. TASR writes about it according to the Reuters and AFP agencies.
Gabbard, a former Hawaii member of the House of Representatives, left the Democratic Party in 2022. She subsequently worked as an independent politician and in October 2024 joined the Republican Party, which she had previously supported. At one time, she was even considered a potential candidate for vice president in the Trump administration, whom she helped prepare for a debate against his Democratic rival Kamala Harris, for example.
She should take over from Avril Haines as head of the US secret service in January, when Trump himself and his entire administration take office. Her nomination still has to be approved by the Senate. Given that the Republicans in this upper chamber of the US Congress will have the majority of seats from January, however, it should be a formality.
“I know Tulsi will bring to our Secret Service the fearless spirit that has defined her illustrious career,” said Trump. According to him, Gabbard has been fighting for the freedom of the US and all Americans for more than two decades. Gabbard herself thanked Trump for the nomination, which she called an opportunity to serve in his cabinet “to defend the security and freedom of the American people.”
Reuters points out that Gabbard has little direct experience working in the Secret Service, so it was not widely expected that Trump would nominate her for such a post. From 2004 to 2005, she served in Iraq as a major in the Hawaii National Guard and is currently a lieutenant colonel in the reserve.
