MINNEAPOLIS — President-elect Donald Trump has created a stir with his nominations for cabinet posts, but Minnesota's top Republicans thus far are on board with the choices he's made.
House Majority Whip Tom Emmer of Minnesota defends the Trump pick getting the most attention, former Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz of Florida for the post of Attorney General.
"Matt Gaetz is a change agent. He's going to do a great job!" Rep. Emmer told KARE Friday.
Gaetz resigned from Congress two days before the House Ethics Committee was scheduled to release the results of an investigation into his personal conduct. Emmer agrees with House Speaker Mike Johnson's decision to bury that report.
"Matt Gaetz was investigated by the Department of Justice, the FBI, and guess what? There was no evidence to charge him with a criminal activity. So. they closed their file," Emmer remarked.
Democratic Senator Tina Smith said the Senate will need to fully vet Gaetz with a thorough confirmation hearing process.
"Matt Gaetz to be head of the Department of Justice – this is the chief law enforcement officer for the entire country," Sen. Smith told KARE. "Their job is to enforce the law, and yet it seems he was chosen primarily because of his personal loyalty to the president."
Trump is pulling in two governors from Minnesota's neighboring states – Gov. Kristi Noem of South Dakota for Homeland Security Secretary and Gov. Doug Burgum of North Dakota for Secretary of Interior.
Smith said Gov. Burgum may differ with her on policy, but he's more qualified than other Trump picks. She also said Florida Senator Marco Rubio is also more of a traditional cabinet choice.
But she does take issue with Trump's nominee for Secretary of Defense, who is Minnesota native Pete Hegseth. He's an US Army Iraq War veteran who ran for Senate in 2012 and currently hosts a weekend show on FOX.
"I’m also very concerned about the pick of Pete Hegseth at the Department of Defense," Smith remarked. "This is a huge, huge agency. It is responsible for our country's national security, keeping people safe, and yet he has virtually no experience in doing that job."
Emmer derided critics who say Hegseth doesn’t have the right skill set to head the Pentagon.
"It's amazing that people want to downplay him over the fact he's just a Fox News host. No. He's a decorated combat veteran, a real combat veteran."
Minnesota's Republican Party Chair David Hann said he trusts the Cabinet vetting process in the US Senate, and that a new president should have discretion over who he likes for these posts.
"He wants to change some of the things that have been the norm in the past politically, and I think people in many cases voted for that when they voted for him," Hann told KARE. "It was, no question, an historic election in many ways, a realignment. So, I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt over who he decides to put in his cabinet."
Hann’s Democratic counterpart, DFL Chair Ken Martin, called on Republican members of Minnesota’s Congressional delegation to release the House Ethics Committee’s report on its probe into Gaetz.
"The Republicans in Minnesota’s Congressional delegation hold critical roles on the ethics committee and in party leadership, and they almost certainly know what this ethics reports says. If they refuse to tell the public what’s in it, it’s because they have something to hide," Martin said in a statement released to the media. "The fact that Gaetz's abrupt resignation two days before the ethics report was supposed to be released raises serious concerns about what the report was going to say."
Emmer also backs RFK Junior for Secretary of Health and Human Services, and other picks. He believes the 2024 Election created a mandate for Trump to think outside the Beltway box with his nominees.
"President Trump is doing exactly what he campaigned on. He's going to go outside of this swamp and he's going to come in and pick people who will actually look into everything in these agencies to bring these people in who are not going to continue to do the same old, same old."