Matt Gaetz, Dr. Oz, RFK: Idaho Republicans in Congress react to Donald Trump’s picks

President-elect Donald Trump continues to announce unorthodox Cabinet picks, and Republican members of Congress have exercised caution about public comments on them. Idaho’s delegation is no exception.

Former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Florida, on Thursday bowed out as Trump’s choice for U.S. attorney general. Idaho’s U.S. senators, who would need to vote to confirm any presidential nominees, declined to say whether they would have voted for the contentious choice.

Idaho’s U.S. Rep. Mike Simpson garnered national attention for his instant reaction after Trump named Gaetz, an unabashed member of the far-right Freedom Caucus, as Trump’s choice for attorney general.

“Are you sh–tin’ me?” Simpson remarked to a Huffington Post reporter. In a follow-up statement, Simpson encouraged the House Ethics Committee to release its report on Gaetz.

Though the House does not possess the Senate’s “advice and consent” authority for confirming presidential nominees, Simpson told the Idaho Statesman on Thursday that he has been pleased with each of Trump’s other Cabinet selections to date.

“Our mandate from the American people is to secure our borders, rebuild our economy and unleash American-made energy,” Simpson said. “House Republicans will work with President Trump and his administration to execute an America-first agenda, and I am confident President Trump has picked the right people in his Cabinet for the task.”

Republican Idaho Sens. Mike Crapo and Jim Risch have made no public statements about Gaetz or his withdrawal. Crapo holds a law degree from Harvard, while Risch is Ada County’s former elected county prosecutor.

Through his spokesperson, Crapo declined to tell the Statesman where he stood on Gaetz. Risch’s office didn’t respond. After Gaetz withdrew, Trump nominated former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi for U.S. attorney general.

Some of Trump’s other picks include former U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, who later left the Democratic Party, for director of national intelligence; former World Wrestling Entertainment executive Linda McMahon for secretary of education; and Fox News host Pete Hegseth for secretary of defense. Idaho’s senators remain tight-lipped about the three nominees.

Matt Gaetz withdraws from AG consideration

Gaetz, 42, is accused of illicit drug use and sexual misconduct, including sex with a 17-year-old girl. He came under Justice Department and House Ethics Committee investigations, but Gaetz has denied the allegations. The Justice Department never filed charges, and the ethics committee – split evenly between Republicans and Democrats – has yet to decide whether to release its report.

Despite winning reelection earlier this month to his Florida congressional seat, Gaetz resigned last week from the position he’s held since 2017 to pursue the vaunted Cabinet position in the Trump administration.

At least four of the incoming Republican senators, including three incumbents, stood firm against supporting Gaetz for the job of American’s top attorney, according to The New York Times. None of the four was reported to be from Idaho. The GOP will hold a four-vote majority in the Senate come January, following the November election results.

Still, Gaetz’s decision came down to “simple math,” Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-North Dakota, told a throng of reporters Thursday in Washington, D.C., CNN reported.

“I know enough people that were a ‘Hell, no’ in the conference,” Cramer said. “The path would have been very, very difficult, if possible even, and I doubt it was.”

Trump has floated the idea that his Cabinet selections, including the more controversial ones, should receive recess appointments, in which they are automatically confirmed while the Senate takes on a 10-day break. In such a scenario, the Republican-controlled House also would have to vote to allow the Senate to go into recess.

‘Default position’ to support all nominees, says Crapo

Former UN Ambassador and Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley this week criticized Gabbard as a “Russian, Iranian, Syrian, Chinese sympathizer” and questioned her fitness for the intelligence role, The Hill reported. Meanwhile, McMahon and Hegseth are now embroiled in their own scandals.

McMahon, a failed Senate candidate for Connecticut who served for two years as administrator of the Small Business Administration under Trump, was recently named in a sexual abuse lawsuit from her time in professional wrestling, The New York Times reported. Hegseth is accused of sexually assaulting a woman in California in 2017, and acknowledged he subsequently paid her in a confidential settlement. Hegseth was never charged with a crime from the encounter and denies any wrongdoing.

Hegseth also has ties to the Christian nationalist Christ Church congregation in Moscow, the Idaho Capital Sun reported.

Crapo and Risch have not specifically commented on any of the three picks. Idaho’s Republican U.S. Rep. Russ Fulcher also hasn’t weighed in on any of Trump’s Cabinet choices, and his office didn’t respond to a request for comment from the Statesman.

On X, formerly known as Twitter, Risch labeled Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Florida, who he works with on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, a “superb appointment” for secretary of state.

On Thursday, Risch said in an interview with KAOX radio in Idaho Falls that he posted to X (owned by Trump “Government Efficiency Department” nominee Elon Musk) that he planned to vote for all of Trump’s other picks, as he has in the past.

“We’re going to work really hard to get Donald Trump and his agenda pushed forward as much as we can,” Risch said. “I have every intention of pressing the (appointments) that he’s made, and I’m working at it hard for Idahoans.”

Crapo, in an interview with KAOX radio earlier this week, said Senate Republicans “are going to move them rapidly” but was ready for a fight with Democrats over Trump’s nominees. “My default position on all of them is to support President Trump’s nomination right,” he said.

Except in rare occasions, Crapo generally doesn’t speak about individual nominees or indicate how he may vote on their nomination until the Senate process has played out, Crapo’s spokesperson Melanie Lawhorn told the Statesman.

However, Crapo has issued statements about two other Trump selections and said he looked forward to considering their nominations: former Libertarian presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for secretary of health and human services, and television personality and failed Senate candidate in Pennsylvania Dr. Mehmet Oz for administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

“RFK Jr. has prioritized addressing chronic diseases through consumer choice and healthy lifestyle. American patients, providers and taxpayers deserve a health care system that is efficient and affordable,” Crapo said in a statement on social media last week.

“Dr. Oz has been an advocate for providing consumers with the information necessary to make their own health care decisions,” Crapo wrote earlier this week.

If recess appointments are what it takes to get any of Trump’s Cabinet choices over the finish line and on a timely basis, Crapo said in this week’s radio interview that he’s prepared to support the maneuver.

“It is something that I and a number of others think we should give the president the authority to do in the appropriate circumstances,” Crapo said.