Johnson calls Gaetz 'one of the brightest minds in Washington or anywhere'

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said Sunday that President-elect Trump’s attorney general pick, former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), is “one of the brightest minds” in Washington.

In an interview on “Fox News Sunday” with Shannon Bream, Johnson downplayed concerns about Gaetz’s nomination and praised him as a reformer.

“Look, Matt Gaetz is a colleague of mine. We've been serving together for more than eight years,” Johnson said. “He's one of the brightest minds in Washington or anywhere for that matter, and he knows everything about how the Department of Justice has been weaponized and misused."

“And he will be a reformer. And I think that's why the establishment in Washington is so shaken up about this pick,” Johnson said.

Trump tapped Gaetz for the top law enforcement spot in the country, prompting concern among even some Republican senators about the president-elect’s choice.

The House Ethics Committee has for years been investigating Gaetz, exploring whether he engaged in sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, among other allegations. He has vigorously denied allegations of wrongdoing, and the Department of Justice, which previously investigated whether he had sex with a 17-year-old, declined to charge him with a crime.

That Ethics Committee investigation, however, came to an abrupt end Wednesday, when Gaetz resigned from the House shortly after Trump nominated him to serve as attorney general. The Ethics panel does not have jurisdiction over former members of Congress.

It remains unknown what path the panel will follow with its Gaetz report. Some Republican senators have pushed for the Senate Judiciary Committee to be granted access to the report and the probe’s findings as they go through the vetting process.

Johnson has said it’s not within the Ethics Committee’s power to release the report because Gaetz is a former member, not a current one.

“Well, look, I hope that the Ethics Committee will stick by our tradition and protocol for the reasons I just articulated. I think this would take us down a path there where I don't know how we'd return. If the House Ethics Committee and its resources, which are significant, substantial, could be used to investigate people who are not in the House, then where would that end?” Johnson asked Bream.

“I mean, people could weaponize that function of government as well,” he said. “The reason that Matt Gaetz is such an exciting pick to so many people is because he will go in and reform the Department of Justice. It desperately needs it.”