Our US correspondent James Matthews is outside the White House and is reacting to Donald Trump’s announcements regarding his top team.

“Controversial appointments, with every one as jaw-dropping as the previous,” he says.

“In the past couple of hours, he’s appointed Matt Gaetz as attorney general – the top legal job in the country,” he adds. 

Matthews describes him a relatively junior player in US politics, but someone who has earned a reputation as a firebrand and fierce Trump loyalist.

“That’s possibly why he was chosen, of course,” he says. 

“Clearly job number one for him will be to take care of the criminal prosecutions still on the table of Donald Trump himself.”

That will come with the obvious accusations of corruption, but there’s another reason Gaetz is so controversial.  

“He is facing a House ethics investigation for the possible offence of a sexual relationship with a minor and a violation of sex trafficking laws,” Matthews says. 

There was an investigation by the department of justice into the claims, but no charges were ever brought.

“There is also the question for him of retribution long-promised by Donald Trump: retribution of the people who brought prosecutions against him and possibly against Joe Biden,” he adds.