Matt Gaetz: “I thank the gentleman from Texas for yielding. I believe his question highlights an increasing problem that we have had…”

“I thank the gentleman from Texas for yielding. I believe his question highlights an increasing problem that we have had for the last 8 years that I hope we will cure, and that is the politicization of the important work that the executive branch ought to be doing on behalf of the American people. The Justice Department should not be Republican or Democrat. It should stand up for the rights of all Americans, the laws that are enacted by this Congress, and the orders that are issued by the President. We shouldn't have circumstances where we have to wonder whether or not the people who are tasked to uphold the law, as the gentleman from Texas did as a jurist and did in a very colored legal career--we shouldn't have to worry about that. But, in fact, for the last 8 years, that has been the problem. That is perhaps one of the reasons why the Senate should act with due haste in confirming Jeff Sessions as the Attorney General, so we go back to a system that is governed by the rule of law, not the rule of popular opinion or politics or one particular ideology. More specifically to the gentleman from Texas' question, I believe that what undermines the Justice Department is this partisan tilt, are these lenses through which many of President Obama's appointees evaluate the great questions that impact the security of Americans. The gentleman from Texas correctly points out that what President Trump has done is hardly unprecedented.…”