So Mariana, we are talking Thursday morning and President-elect Donald Trump is picking people to serve in his administration.

And late yesterday, he made this one pick that caught a lot of people off guard.

And that is Matt Gates as Attorney General. Gates is now a former Republican congressman from Florida,

and the Attorney General oversees the Department of Justice.

So, Mariana, how did this pick land on Capitol Hill?

With a big bomb.

I mean, it was such a shock that reverberated across the Capitol and House Republicans were actually

meeting off campus as they themselves were debating their own leadership team. And some members

that I talked to said that people legitimately just gasped in the room. Mariana Sotomayor covers Congress for the Post.

She says Gates is a divisive Republican who has stymied a lot of legislation. He's a staunch

Trump ally. And he's repeatedly attacked the FBI, which is under the DOJ. Here he is at a July

2023 hearing with FBI director Christopher

Ray. Don't you see that that's kind of the thing, Director Ray, that you preside over the FBI

that has the lowest level of trust in the FBI's history. People trusted the FBI more when

Jay Edgar Hoover was running the place than when you are.

And the reason is because you don't give straight answers.

Gates has also been accused of sexual misconduct.

He was investigated by the Justice Department.

Gates has denied any wrongdoing.

So many House Republicans absolutely loathe Matt Gates. He has constantly been a thorn on leadership side,

on many of the member sides, that he is just someone who has never really been liked,

except for a very select few members of the MAGA crew that he hangs out with in the House.

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