Trump names far-right Matt Gates as U.S. attorney general

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has named far-right Florida Congressman Matt Gates as attorney general to oversee criminal law enforcement by his second administration.

After announcing Gates' nomination as attorney general via social network service Truth Social, Trump said "there are few more important issues than ending the weaponization of the justice system."

Gates then said he would "protect our borders, dismantle our criminal organizations" and "bring us back to our true mission of rooting out corruption in the Justice Department, of cleaning up crime, of democracy and protecting the Constitution."

Gates, who is considered a leading Trump ally in the House, is a key figure in the Freedom Caucus, a group of hard-right Republican lawmakers who led the removal of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, a Republican, last year.

In the United States, the attorney general oversees the Federal Bureau of Investigation and federal prosecutors, which has been considered a member of the Cabinet and a place that requires strict and neutral performance.

Trump, who was criminally indicted four times last year on charges of disobeying the 2020 presidential election, has been holding a day of criticism throughout his presidential campaign, citing the Justice Department's "weaponization."