Former Florida congressman Matt Gaetz announced today that he would end his bid to be Donald Trump’s attorney general.
“I had excellent meetings with Senators yesterday. I appreciate their thoughtful feedback – and the incredible support of so many. While the momentum was strong, it is clear that my confirmation was unfairly becoming a distraction to the critical work of the Trump/Vance Transition,” tweeted Gaetz. “There is no time to waste on a needlessly protracted Washington scuffle, thus I'll be withdrawing my name from consideration to serve as Attorney General. Trump's DOJ must be in place and ready on Day 1.”
He added: “I remain fully committed to see that Donald J. Trump is the most successful President in history. I will forever be honored that President Trump nominated me to lead the Department of Justice and I'm certain he will Save America.”
His appointment was easily the most controversial and politically divisive of the incoming president’s cabinet selections. Recently elected to his fifth term in the House of Representatives, Gaetz was once investigated by the very Department of Justice he sought to lead for allegedly having sex with a 17-year-old girl at a party in 2017, during his very first term in office. Witnesses testified to seeing the encounter, which Gaetz has strongly denied ever occurred.
The Florida Republican resigned from the current Congress as it was announced last week that he would seek the nomination for attorney general. In his letter, he also announced that he would not take his seat in the 119th Congress when it takes shape in January.
The timing of his resignation and subsequent nomination provoked a wave of shock across Washington. The House Ethics Committee, which had undertaken its own extensive investigation of Gaetz’s activities and the allegations against him, was due to release its report just two days after he announced he was stepping down. That decision ended the committee’s jurisdiction to continue the investigation, and has thrown into question whether the report will be released at all.
His withdrawal on Thursday followed publication of a CNN report indicating that the Ethics panel had also heard testimony about a second alleged sexual encounter with the same underage girl at the same party.
President-elect Donald Trump issued a statement shortly after Gaetz’s announcement.
“I greatly appreciate the recent efforts of Matt Gaetz in seeking approval to be Attorney General. He was doing very well but, at the same time, did not want to be a distraction for the Administration, for which he has much respect,” wrote Trump on his Truth Social platform. “Matt has a wonderful future, and I look forward to watching all of the great things he will do!”
Gaetz’s removal from contention for the role was likely to deliver more than a few feelings of relief for GOP senators on Capitol Hill already weary of defending someone that many personally loathe and were already publicly admitting would face a difficult confirmation process.
”Oh, so much fun we’re going to miss,” Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, a Democrat from Rhode Island, remarked sarcastically to The Independent.
“Not now!” a brusque Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, added.
It also marks the first failed cabinet nomination of the incoming Trump presidency, which his critics have warned will largely be bereft of the “guardrails” that mitigated his behavior to fit within established Washington norms during his first term.
The end of scrutiny on Gaetz will be no boon to the other Trump picks for cabinet-level positions, some of whom have similar baggage weighing them down. Pete Hegseth, the Fox personality chosen by Trump to run the Department of Defense, is a prime example: he entered a negotiated monetary settlement with a woman who accused him of sexual assault, though he did not face criminal charges over the matter and continues to insist he saw the encounter as consensual.
