Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., slammed GOP senators who publicly dissed the choice of Matt Gaetz for attorney general, specifically calling out Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, saying she is not a real Republican.
When President-elect Donald Trump announced his pick of Gaetz, who soon afterward resigned from Congress, Murkowski panned the pick as not a "serious nomination," adding, this "was not on my bingo card."
Luna responded in an interview with "Forbes Newsroom."
"I don't think Lisa Murkowski is a Republican," Luna said Thursday. "When you have Democrats or people that are claiming to be Republicans but vote with Democrats, vote to send money to Ukraine, vote to really impoverish Americans — meanwhile, they're becoming multimillionaires in the Senate with their stock portfolios — I don't take anything that they say seriously."
Further, Luna said "the swamp is very afraid" of Gaetz as attorney general.
"No sooner than when he has announced, you saw the smear campaign about Matt Gaetz — very similar to the smear campaign that was launched against Justice [Brett] Kavanaugh," she said, referring to his contentious Supreme Court nomination hearings in September 2018.
Luna praised the nomination of Gaetz, who is also from Florida.
"Gaetz is going to do great things for our country! He is one of my closest friends in Congress and we will miss him dearly," she wrote in a post on X on Wednesday.
In another post, she wrote, "Very happy for my friend @mattgaetz! He is a fighter and that is exactly what we need!"
Even with a 53-seat majority in the Senate, a handful of chamber Republicans are calling Gaetz's bid for confirmation a "long shot," said Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D.
Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, said Gaetz has "his work cut out for him."
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said Gaetz's nomination "shocked" her and that she is sure there will be "many, many questions" raised at his confirmation hearing if it goes forward.
At issue is a House Ethics Committee report that was reportedly set to be released until Gaetz resigned, ending the probe and all but assuring it wouldn't get released.
"I'm not going to engage in this BS narrative that he's some crazy sex trafficking convicted pedophile because he's not. And that whole idea and narrative and an attempt to destroy him is wrong," Luna told Forbes.