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If confirmed U.S. attorney general, Matt Gaetz takes over the civil rights investigation of Phoenix

U.S. Congressman Matt Gaetz speaking with attendees at the 2022 AmericaFest at the Phoenix Convention Center in Phoenix.
Gage Skidmore/CC BY 2.0
U.S. Congressman Matt Gaetz speaking with attendees at the 2022 AmericaFest at the Phoenix Convention Center in Phoenix.

President-elect Donald Trump says he’s nominating Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz to lead a US Justice Department, which has said Phoenix and its police department abuse civil rights.

In 2017, Trump’s first attorney general told the country’s largest police union that the administration supports officers.

Local civil rights attorney Benjamin Taylor says expect Gaetz, if approved, to reflect Trump’s pro-police ethos.

“It looks like he’s going to be definitely a, ‘Back the Blue’ type person in backing law enforcement,” Taylor said.

Little has happened between Phoenix and the Justice Department since findings were released about five months ago.

“And the DOJ investigation will stop in his tracks if Attorney General Gaetz decides to dismiss it,” Taylor said.

Gaetz must be confirmed by the Senate.

He was the subject of a congressional ethics investigation.

Matthew Casey has won Edward R. Murrow awards for hard news and sports reporting since he joined KJZZ as a senior field correspondent in 2015.