WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump’s choice of Matt Gaetz — a Florida congressman who was recently the target of an FBI investigation — as the next attorney general of the United States sent shock waves through the Justice Department on Wednesday.

“OMG,” said a current senior DOJ official. A second department official called the selection “truly stunning” and a third called it “insane.”

Gaetz, who was the subject of a federal sex trafficking investigation that ended without charges, has been a staunch supporter of Trump and has regularly attacked both the Justice Department and the FBI, including calling for the agency to be defunded and to abolish.

“What’s going on?!” asked a senior Justice Department official who, like others quoted in this story, spoke anonymously to candidly assess the man chosen to lead their department.

The official called it “laughable” that Gaetz was nominated and said he should not be confirmed in such a critical position at a monumental moment in history.

“I’m struggling for words,” said another Justice Department official.

“And look, he is uniquely qualified,” the DOJ official snapped. “How many other future attorneys general had prior experience as the subject of a criminal investigation?”

A current senior Justice Department official said they “didn’t see this coming,” while another called it “absolutely unbelievable.”

In the hallways of the Justice Department’s headquarters on Pennsylvania Avenue, the mood was somber Wednesday as some staffers sat to digest what impact the congressman might have on the institution, which has been operating under a set of post-Watergate standards intended to avoid political bias. not influence criminal investigations.

Gaetz was particularly critical of the DOJ’s investigation into the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, which has resulted in indictments against more than 1,500 Trump supporters and the convictions of more than 1,100 criminals who participated in the attack, including more than 600 . who were sentenced to prison terms.

On the night of January 6, 2021, after the crowd was cleared from the building, Gaetz spread the conspiracy theory on the House floor that the attack was actually orchestrated by the left-wing antifa group.

In the years after the attack, he spread conspiracy theories about Ray Epps, a Trump supporter and January 6 defendant who was falsely portrayed as a government agent, as well as about the pipe bombs left outside the Republican National Committee and the Democratic National Committee. Committee on the eve of the attack.

The Florida House member also attempted to visit inmates at the jail on Jan. 6 and demanded the release of all surveillance tapes of the attack. A Jan. 6 defendant, Brandon Straka, said in early 2023 that he was in “regular” contact with Gaetz about the fate of those charged in connection with the attack on the Capitol.

Once Trump takes office, Gaetz will still have to be formally nominated for the position, a position that will be confirmed by the Senate. Republicans in the Senate on Wednesday expressed surprise at the choice of Gaetz, although most were careful to leave the door open for him.

A former senior Justice Department official, meanwhile, said Gaetz’s selection “cannot be realistic.”

“Matt lacks any substance or understanding of how the department operates,” the former official continued. “He would be the final decision maker on really important matters of national security and this is someone who has no principles at all.”

Another former senior DOJ official added: “He is the least qualified person ever nominated for a position at the Department of Justice.”