Bill Maher skewered Donald Trump’s proposed Cabinet in his “Real Time” opening monologue on Friday, with much of his focus on the president-elect’s intended nominee for attorney general.
Former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), the comedian noted, is “a bit of an unorthodox pick” for the job.
“Usually a president wants someone as attorney general who’s familiar with Justice Department investigations, but not a target of them himself,” Maher said.
Gaetz was previously the subject of a Department of Justice probe into whether he violated federal sex trafficking laws by allegedly paying a 17-year-old girl to travel across state lines with him. The former congressman denied the allegations, and the DOJ ended its investigation without filing charges against him.
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A House Ethics Committee investigation into Gaetz’s alleged activity was ongoing, but his resignation from Congress this week ― which Speaker Mike Johnson said was intended to expedite a special election for the representative’s House seat ― ends that probe.
Maher cracked that Trump only plans to nominate Gaetz “because Diddy was not available” ― a reference to the rapper’s high-profile sex trafficking allegations ― before imagining what the DOJ might look like under the former Florida representative’s lead.
“Matt is floating a new policy in the Justice Department,” he said: “Don’t ask, don’t card.”