Gaetz pick raises fears that Trump will seek ‘retribution’ on political foes

With president-elect likely to use DoJ to crush enemies, only hope lies in staffers refusing to carry out illegal orders

As Donald Trump moves fast to expand his influence over prosecutorial and legal decisions while revamping the US justice department, concerns are rising quickly about how he may abuse his powers to target political foes for retribution" as he often suggested during his campaign, say ex-federal prosecutors.

Fueling those fears was the president-elect's stunning decision to choose ultra-loyalist and firebrand Florida representative Matt Gaetz to be his attorney general and help fight what Trump calls a weaponized government" that he says baselessly used a special counsel to file criminal charges against him for trying to subvert his 2020 election loss.