SAUNDERS: Trump nailed 1 Cabinet pick, got 2nd chance on another

WASHINGTON

Mike Waltz, Donald Trump’s choice to serve as his national security advisor, is a brilliant pick. A decorated combat veteran who boasts that his wife served more combat tours than he did, Waltz is the first Green Beret to be elected to Congress.

Rep. Waltz, R-Fla., has worked in the Pentagon and at the White House, so he knows the bureaucracies with which he will have to contend.

At a side event during the Republican National Convention this summer, I watched Waltz lay out the national security threat matrix across the globe with a fluency that suggests he’ll need no on-the-job training.

He’s a hawk who appreciates Trump’s reluctance to go to war as well as the president-elect’s commitment to deterring Chinese ambitions and standing with Israel. Waltz won’t weigh down his mission with electric-vehicle mandates and DEI mantras.

The position does not require Senate confirmation, although Waltz likely would have snapped up votes on both sides of the aisle. When he gets to work at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., he will be focused on winning the release of seven American hostages in Gaza. He has met with their families.

When I heard that Trump picked Waltz, I cheered.

I had the opposite reaction to Trump’s Nov. 13 announcement that he had chosen Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., to serve as his attorney general.

It was a choice that stunned Washington, a town that had gotten used to Trump doling out important positions to supporters whose loyalty to Trump exceed other qualifications.

When Gaetz announced Thursday that he was withdrawing from consideration for the job, no one was surprised. He was, after all, a controversial pick to be the nation’s top lawman in the midst of an ongoing House Ethics Committee investigation into a host of sexual misconduct allegations, including that the congressman had sex with a 17-year-old girl.

As The New York Times reported, “Since the spring of 2021, the (House) ethics panel had been investigating Mr. Gaetz over an array of allegations, including that he had engaged in sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, shared inappropriate images or videos on the House floor, misused state identification records, converted campaign funds to personal use and accepted gifts that violated House rules.”

Gaetz has denied these allegations. It is important to note that the Department of Justice did not file charges against Gaetz after years of investigation.

On Wednesday, the Ethics Committee voted not to release a report and postpone deliberations on its release until Dec. 5.

Because Gaetz resigned from the House last week and is no longer a member, the ethics probe into alleged sexual misconduct has come to a close.

On social media, Trump thanked Gaetz and predicted the former congressman “has a wonderful future.”

Trump’s antipathy toward the DOJ is understandable given its shameful role in peddling the bogus “Steele dossier” that smeared Trump with salacious disinformation. Putting Gaetz in charge of the DOJ must have seemed like getting even to Trump.

Trump wasted no time in selecting a new nominee. He selected former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi on Thursday night.

Clearly an improvement.

Contact Review-Journal Washington columnist Debra J. Saunders at dsaunders@reviewjournal.com. Follow @debrajsaunders on X.