What did Donald Trump do today?

He replaced one political loyalist with another as his attorney general pick.

Today, former Rep. Matt Gaetz withdrew from consideration as Trump's pick for attorney general. Gaetz had resigned from Congress last Wednesday, the same day that Trump tapped him to lead the Justice Department, in order to avoid the publication of an Ethics Committee report on allegations that he had engaged in the sex trafficking of minors, among other crimes.

In the meantime, witnesses have spoken out and documents have been released to the press that corroborate the worst allegations against Gaetz.

Gaetz is one of at least three Trump nominees (so far) to have credible criminal sexual assault charges made against them, not counting Trump himself. A police report from 2017 was released today about Pete Hegseth, the weekend Fox News host Trump has tapped to lead the Defense Department. Hegseth paid the woman who made the charges an undisclosed sum of money in exchange for her silence. She sustained injuries consistent with sexual assault. A Trump spokesperson falsely claimed that a police report had exonerated Hegseth.

Trump picked Gaetz impulsively during a two-hour plane ride, with key advisors out of the loop, and Gaetz himself in attendance. There was no opportunity for his staff to present him with some of the better-known facts about the charges made against Gaetz. 

Today, just hours after Gaetz pulled out, Trump announced he had chosen Pam Bondi as his latest pick. Bondi was his personal defense attorney for his first impeachment trial, but her relationship with him goes back years. In 2013, she sought and received a $25,000 political donation from Trump's private charity foundation before deciding, as Florida's attorney general, not to pursue Floridians' complaints against his Trump University scheme, which was ultimately found to be fraudulent. (It's illegal for charities to make political donations. This was one of a litany of illegal actions that ultimately led to the Trump Foundation being shut down by New York state officials and Trump personally being fined millions of dollars.)

Why does this matter?

• Bad things happen when presidents choose staff based on personal loyalty rather than fitness for office.