'Audible gasp': Justice Dept. officials, Republicans react to Trump picking Matt Gaetz for AG

WASHINGTON -- President-elect Donald Trump's selection of Rep. Matt Gaetz as his future attorney general has sent many Justice Department officials into a state of shock following an already tumultuous eight days since the election.

Reaction among Republicans on Capitol Hill also ranged from shock to support.

Several of the department's roughly 110,000 career workforce, who spoke to ABC News on the condition of anonymity, described an atmosphere of dread over the prospect of Gaetz potentially taking the helm of the nation's top law enforcement agency.

Some House Republicans meeting behind closed doors said there was an audible gasp in the room when they heard Trump had picked Gaetz.

The Florida congressman, who has been an unvarnished critic of the DOJ, was recently the subject of a criminal sex trafficking investigation by the federal department he's now been tapped to lead.

House Speaker Mike Johnson announced Wednesday night that Gaetz had resigned from Congress effective immediately to "start the clock" on the process for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to call a special election to fill his vacancy. Gaetz's resignation will end the probe by the Ethics Committee, which does not investigate members after they have left Congress.

The U.S. attorney general role is selected by the president but confirmed to appointment by the Senate.

"This can't be real," a Justice Department official told ABC News on Wednesday.

"Mass resignations if he gets sworn in," another official added.

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Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins was among those who said they were shocked, appearing to refer to Trump's demand that his nominees be done with recess appointments -- without Senate confirmation.

"This shows why the advice and consent process is so important, and I'm sure that there will be a lot of questions raised at his hearing," Collins told reporters. "Obviously, the president has the right to nominate whomever he wishes, but I'm certain that there will be a lot of questions."

Alaska GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who voted to find Trump guilty at his second impeachment trial during his first term, said "I don't think this is a serious nomination for the attorney general."

"We need to have a serious attorney general and I'm looking forward to the opportunity to consider somebody that is serious," she said. "This one was not on my bingo card."

Others at the Justice Department expressed doubts Gaetz would ultimately be successful in receiving confirmation from the Senate, based on the initial wave of reaction on Capitol Hill.

One official who spoke to ABC News, however, said they worried Gaetz's nomination could be part of a broader effort to eventually secure confirmation of someone else who would previously have been seen as less palatable.

A major debate going on in the minds of many career officials at the moment is whether to remain in the Department of Justice for Trump's second administration.

Gaetz denied any wrongdoing during a yearslong investigation, and the Justice Department informed Gaetz in 2023 that it was declining to bring charges against him after its investigation.

But the Florida congressman still faces an ongoing investigation by the House Ethics Committee regarding the same allegations.

Republican Sen. Mike Rounds of South Dakota, asked if the ethics investigation concerned him, said, "Most certainly, it would be concerning because it would be a part of his file," Rounds said.

Rounds told reporters that he had "no reaction yet" whether Gaetz would be confirmed. Asked if he would vote to confirm, he said, "All I can really tell you right now is that we normally give the president the benefit of the doubt, but we still do our due diligence and advice and consent is still important."

Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, who, Trump had announced as his pick for secretary of state earlier in the day, had complimentary things to say about his fellow Floridian.

"I've known him for a long time, and again, I think the president is entitled to his team, and he's made his appointments," he said. "And so, I like Matt a lot. I know him very well, and I'm confident that if the Senate confirms him, he would do a good job. And again, the presidents are entitled to have the people that they want in these key positions to carry out the mandate that's been delivered to him by the voters of the United States."

On the House side, Majority Leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana and House Ethics Committee Chairman Michael Guest, R-Miss., expressed support for Trump's pick.

Trump has been vocal about using the agency as a tool of retribution against his enemies. Some federal prosecutors fear Trump's direction could tear down important institutional norms that have governed the DOJ's work since the Watergate scandal in the early 1970s.

Fears surrounding Trump's use of the DOJ come amid recent warnings leveled by a top advisor to Trump's transition, attorney Mark Paoletta.

Paoletta took to his X account to warn that any career officials who seek to "resist" the demands of Trump's appointees will be swiftly punished and even face termination.

"I hope DOJ attorneys will embrace their responsibility to implement President Trump's agenda," Paoletta wrote on Wednesday, adding, "That is their constitutional duty."

Current Attorney General Merrick Garland has yet to comment publicly on Trump's selection of Gaetz.