After President-elect Donald Trump announced plans to nominate Matt Gaetz to serve as U.S. Attorney General, U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen had a quick, and fierce reaction, calling the decision “insane” and “a very bad choice.”

Van Hollen, a Democrat, referred to the House Ethics Committee investigation into Gaetz, who resigned from Congress after the announcement Wednesday. The committee investigated allegations that the Republican representative from Florida engaged in sexual misconduct with a minor and illicit drug use. If the committee decides to make the report public, it could be released as early as Friday, Punchbowl News reported.

“We don’t need to get into all the details of the allegations against him, which the Ethics Committee in the House, which is bipartisan split 50-50, apparently was about to issue a stinging report about,” Van Hollen said during an interview with FOX45 News.

Still, Van Hollen maintained that aside from the criminal allegations, Gaetz does not match the profile of the top prosecutor in the country and worries that he will be used by Trump as a tool to weaponize the U.S. Department of Justice.

“On the campaign trail, candidate Donald Trump threatened to weaponize the Department of Justice, to use the Department of Justice, to go after his, you know, his political enemies,” Van Hollen said. “And Matt Gaetz would just be an enabler of those worst instincts by the incoming president.”

U.S. Rep. Andy Harris, Maryland’s lone Republican in Congress, mocked the Democrats’ push-back against Gaetz’s nomination.

“Pushback from the swamp, especially on Matt Gaetz, will be huge because they want a swamp creature to head the Department of Justice. That’s what Merrick Garland was. He proved it,” Harris said in a statement shared with FOX45 News.

Van Hollen also urged the newly elected Senate Majority Leader John Thune to follow the confirmation process as it is outlined in the Constitution, and not to surrender to pressures from President-elect Trump to “short-circuit” the process.

“We have a hearing process. We have a confirmation process. I know president-elect Trump wants to end-run that entire process and allow him to do what are called recess appointments to short circuit the constitutional process,” Van Hollen said.

What would be very dangerous is for the new Republican Senate leadership to end-run that entire process to try to short circuit to either not have hearings or not have votes on the Senate floor to confirm these members, Van Hollen said.

Even though Republicans flipped the Senate, securing a 53-seat majority in the chamber, Sen. Van Hollen cast doubt on Gaetz’s ability to clear the confirmation process through the U.S. Senate.

“I will say it’s not at all clear to me that Matt Gaetz will have the votes in the United States Senate for confirmation even with the Republican majority,” Van Hollen said.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, an Alaska Republican, called Gaetz “not a serious candidate” for Attorney General. Fellow Republican, Sen. Susan Collins from Maine, also was skeptical; she said she was “shocked” with the President-elect’s nomination.

Have a news tip? Contact Mikenzie Frost at mbfrost@sbgtv.com.