NEW: Unlikely GOP Senator Open To Supporting Matt Gaetz For AG

Matt Gaetz on Tuesday garnered a boon for his looming U.S. Senate confirmation after an unlikely Republican publicly came to his defense in the face of sexual misconduct allegations.

Days after President-elect Donald Trump selected Gaetz, a longtime ally and millennial firebrand, to serve as U.S. attorney general, Republican senators have scarcely been seen on Capitol Hill defending his pick. Some, fearing backlash at home, have pleaded their case that a protracted fight over nominating Gaetz will do more harm than good, an argument dispelled by Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) on Tuesday. Trump “wants a hammer” at the Justice Department, he told CNBC, and that’s what the American people by extension want as well.

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“I think the president wants a hammer at the DOJ and he sees Matt Gaetz as a hammer and all these other appointments, he’s very confident at where they’re at and can deliver the administration that he’s wanting,” Mullin said. “His picks have been maybe unconventional, but we hired an unconventional president and the American people wanted that. They don’t want politics as usual. They want someone who’s going to shake up Washington, D.C.”

After years of malaise under the Biden-Harris administration, he added, “the American people wanted” the system to be “shook up.” “The president is maybe using some picks for these positions that’s not conventional but it’s what the American people wanted.”

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Mullin, 47, is a fresh face to the upper chamber, succeeding longtime former Sen. James Inhofe in 2023. Ensconced in a reliably red seat, the junior senator has little to fear by going out on a limb for Trump’s nominees, all of whom are exceptionally popular with the MAGA faithful. His warm wards are welcome news for Gaetz, who remains under a cloud of allegations and has publicly feuded with Mullin in the past. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has pledged to sequester an anticipated Ethics Committee report during the nomination, and Gaetz, who has denied the allegations, has pointed out that the Biden Justice Department investigated him and declined to bring charges.

The firebrand conservative already resigned his seat in Congress as he prepares for a grueling Senate nomination to follow. He doubtlessly faces an “uphill climb,” as Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) told Politico on Monday: only 22% of voters have a positive opinion of him compared to 35% who view him negatively, the lowest numbers among Trump’s appointees. “President Trump and his team are focused on and confident in the confirmation of AG-designee Gaetz,” a person familiar with Trump’s thinking told NBC News. The president-elect said as much when he announced the pick on Truth Social last week.

“Few issues in America are more important than ending the partisan Weaponization of our Justice System. Matt will end Weaponized Government, protect our Borders, dismantle Criminal Organizations and restore Americans’ badly-shattered Faith and Confidence in the Justice Department,” Trump wrote.

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