Trump pushes past the sting of Matt Gaetz’s exit with a flurry of new picks

President-elect Donald Trump quickly put behind him the loss of his first choice for attorney general, his top-priority position, while Senate Republicans expressed relief that they had avoided an ugly, drawn-out standoff with the incoming president.

The day after former congressman Matt Gaetz withdrew his name from consideration to lead the Justice Department, Trump pushed ahead with a burst of fresh announcements for planned appointments, including some controversial picks. The president-elect also showed no sign of shrinking from his choice of former Fox News host Pete Hegseth for secretary of defense or any of his other picks facing tough confirmation fights. Still, his team is taking a more cooperative approach to the upper chamber after initially demanding to bypass confirmation hearings and votes.

“President Trump appreciates the advice and consent of Senators on Capitol Hill, but ultimately this is his administration,” said Steven Cheung, Trump’s choice for White House communications director. “Voters gave President Trump a mandate to choose Cabinet nominees that reflect the will of the American people and he will continue to do so.”

Senate Republicans welcomed the rapid substitution of former Florida attorney general Pam Bondi as Trump’s pick for attorney general after Gaetz announced his withdrawal. One aide, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private conversations, said the Gaetz withdrawal was more of a learning experience for the Senate and Trump than a setback.

Trump followed that move on Friday by naming hedge fund executive Scott Bessent as his choice for treasury secretary following days of hand-wringing over the position that is fifth in the line of succession and of keen interest to global investors. He also said he’d bring back his first-term budget director, Russell Vought, a key author of the Project 2025 policy blueprint who has advocated for unilaterally rejecting spending that Congress authorized, firing federal workers and taking control of independent regulators.

Trump also announced plans to bring back controversial foreign policy aide Sebastian Gorka, who left Trump’s first White House under then-Chief of Staff John F. Kelly. Alex Wong, a former representative for North Korea and a State Department adviser, was named to return as the principal deputy to the national security adviser - a position Trump has asked Rep. Michael Waltz (R-Florida) to fill.

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Trump’s choice for labor secretary, Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer (R-Oregon), flipped the usual Republican pattern because organized labor lobbied for her while business leaders objected. He named Janette Nesheiwat, a medical contributor on Fox News, as his pick for surgeon general; former congressman Dave Weldon to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Johns Hopkins surgeon and public health expert Marty Makary as Food and Drug Administration commissioner; and retired football player and former Texas state representative Scott Turner for secretary of Housing and Urban Development.

Trump advisers said nominating Gaetz was not some complicated chess move to soften up the Senate or provide cover for other controversial nominees. The decision was simple: Trump wanted him for attorney general, a position the president-elect took special interest in because of his experience being investigated for trying to interfere with the 2020 election results and mishandling classified records. Special counsel Jack Smith signaled he is winding down those cases after Trump won the Nov. 5 election.

On Wednesday, Gaetz appeared optimistic in meetings at the Capitol, where he made the case for his confirmation, according to a Republican senator who was surprised by his decision to withdraw Thursday. But other senators conveyed to Trump’s team that the votes weren’t there.

Trump and Gaetz spoke about the decision on Thursday morning before Gaetz announced his withdrawal, according to a person briefed on the conversation. The person emphasized that Trump did not pressure Gaetz to bow out and understood it was his decision.

Another person briefed on Gaetz’s decision said he recognized the confirmation process would take months and resurface sordid details from a federal criminal investigation and House ethics probe involving allegations of paying for sex, including with a 17-year-old, and drug use. Gaetz resigned from Congress days before the ethics report was scheduled to become public - a sequence of events that angered Trump, this person said.

Short-lived Cabinet picks are not uncommon. In 1815, James Madison withdrew his nomination for secretary of war in one day, facing Senate disapproval. The past five presidents before Joe Biden each had at least one pick fail. Bernard Kerik withdrew as George W. Bush’s pick for the secretary of homeland security in seven days. Barack Obama’s commerce pick, Republican Judd Gregg, withdrew in 10 days, according to Senate records. Trump’s first term featured four withdrawals.

Senate confirmations have generally become slower and more fiercely scrutinized in recent presidencies, according to the Center for Presidential Transition, a nonpartisan research and expert group. Trump threw down a gauntlet on Nov. 10 by demanding recess appointments, a constitutional maneuver to bypass confirmation hearings and votes. Sen. John Thune (R-South Dakota), the next Senate majority leader, was noncommittal. Pushing for recess appointments would also mean acknowledging Trump lacked support from within his own party, which will have a 53-seat majority.

“Obviously, we want to use the regular process to get these nominees through,” Thune told reporters last week. “My intention is to get these folks going and get voting on it.”

With Gaetz out, Hegseth became the nominee of highest concern within the transition, as details continue to emerge from a 2017 sexual assault allegation against him. Hegseth has denied wrongdoing, claiming the encounter was consensual and noting that the claim was investigated, he was not charged, and the district attorney said there wasn’t evidence to prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt.

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Hegseth also met with senators this week, receiving supportive statements from at least 10 Republicans, including Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee and Joni Ernst of Iowa. Some people involved in the transition said that, in addition to the sexual assault allegation and multiple documented instances of marital infidelity, Hegseth also faces challenges over his opposition to women in combat.

Other Trump advisers expressed confidence that Hegseth and other controversial nominees, including former Hawaii congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard for director of national intelligence and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for health secretary, will succeed in the Senate.

“President Trump will continue to appoint highly-qualified men and women who have the talent, experience, and necessary skill sets to Make America Great Again,” Trump-Vance transition spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said.

By announcing a new attorney general nominee less than seven hours after Gaetz withdrew, Trump helped keep the process moving and avoided getting bogged down in the defeat, said several advisers, speaking on the condition of anonymity to describe internal conversations. Bondi, a former local prosecutor and state attorney general who served on Trump’s first impeachment defense team, immediately drew praise from Senate Republicans, with some Trump allies calling her a better choice than Gaetz.

“Matt Gaetz sunk Matt Gaetz, the senators didn’t sink him,” said John Fredericks, a pro-Trump talk radio host who campaigned with Bondi in Pennsylvania this year. “These Republicans are serving at the pleasure of MAGA. All we ask is to give the president his due. He won. They better play ball with us or we’re going to retaliate by doing the only thing they understand: primarying them. 2026 can’t come fast enough for any of these people voting against Trump’s nominees.”

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Jeff Stein, Jacob Bogage and Lisa Rein contributed to this report.