'Ideal choice': Trump aide suggests this controversial state AG could be picked to lead DOJ

Now that former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) has officially withdrawn his name from consideration to be the next attorney general, President-elect Donald Trump is quickly moving on to his next choice.

According to a Thursday report in NYSun.com, Trump's next attorney general-designate could be Texas Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton. The Sun reported that an unnamed source "with close ties to Trump's team" says Paxton — who has served as the top law enforcement official in the Lone Star State since 2015 — is "the ideal choice for the America First movement."

As Texas' attorney general, Paxton led the charge at the state level to try to overturn the results of the 2020 election. Paxton was the lead plaintiff in the Texas v. Pennsylvania lawsuit that sought to prevent the certification of election results in the handful of battleground states that President Joe Biden narrowly won four years ago, unsuccessfully arguing that those states' Covid-19 pandemic voting procedures violated the U.S. Constitution.

READ MORE: Senate Republican slams 'criminal' Texas attorney general for 'pushing Russian propaganda'

Paxton is also likely to be agreeable to Trump's stated plans to use the Department of Justice as a vehicle to hound his political enemies. As Texas' attorney general, Paxton launched an investigation into Democratic-aligned advocacy group Media Matters for America in 2023. U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta ultimately shut down Paxton's attempts to probe Media Matters' financial records and internal communications.

The Sun's Matthew Rice noted that in addition to presumably all Senate Democrats, one unlikely opponent Paxton could have in the Senate would be Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), who has publicly feuded with Paxton in the recent past. In February, Cornyn was one of several Republicans who joined all Democrats in supporting a supplemental foreign aid package to help Israel, Taiwan and Ukraine. Paxton accused Cornyn of "stay[ing] up all night to defend other countries' borders, but not America." Cornyn clapped back, mentioning Paxton's criminal charges for alleged securities fraud (which have since been dropped).

"Ken, your criminal defense lawyers are calling to suggest you spend less time pushing Russian propaganda and more time defending longstanding felony charges against you in Houston, as well as ongoing federal grand jury proceedings in San Antonio that will probably result in further criminal charges," Cornyn tweeted.

Aside from Paxton, other potential attorneys general may include Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) — whose father served as solicitor general under President Ronald Reagan — and far-right attorney Mike Davis, who has blamed Democrats for the assassination attempts on then-candidate Trump.

READ MORE: 'Victory for free speech': Judge bocks far-right Texas AG Paxton's probe of Media Matters

Click here to read the Sun's report in its entirety (subscription required).