Geraldo Rivera on Gaetz pick: ‘I threw up in my mouth’ 

Television personality and former Trump ally Geraldo Rivera blasted President-elect Trump’s nomination of former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) for attorney general, saying the decision was a “horrible, creepy choice.”  

“When I heard that Matt Gaetz was picked to be attorney general, I threw up in my mouth,” Rivera said on NewsNation Thursday evening. 

Rivera has expressed regret about not abandoning Trump sooner, and backed Vice President Harris in the 2024 election, calling the former president “a sore loser who cannot be trusted to honor the Constitution” in a post on social platform X.  

On Thursday he said Trump’s Cabinet selections were “blowing up Washington D.C.,” with Gaetz’s nomination as the “giant F you to the critics.” He pointed to Gaetz’s lack of legal experience and overall lack of qualifications for the position, saying the former representative is “barely a lawyer” and a “clearly incompetent person.”  

The former Fox News host posted on the social platform X on Wednesday ripping Gaetz as a “douche.”  

Rivera is one of many historically conservative voices speaking out on the Gaetz decision, though only a handful of moderate Republicans have publicly expressed dissent.  

Four Senate Republicans would need to vote against Gaetz in the appointment process to block the nomination. Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) described Gaetz’s nomination process as an “uphill climb” on Thursday.