Former Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz said Thursday that he is withdrawing as President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for attorney general, writing on social media that his nomination “was unfairly becoming a distraction.”
Gaetz’s withdrawal comes after meetings with Republican senators this week, as Trump’s transition team sought to gauge whether he would win enough GOP support to be confirmed and Democrats were pushing to release a House Ethics Committee report into the former congressman.
“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,” Gaetz wrote on X.
“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.”
Democrats were pressing for the disclosure of the House Ethics Committee report detailing its investigation into Gaetz, including over allegations of sexual misconduct and other alleged crimes, after the panel’s Republicans voted on Wednesday not to release the probe’s results.
Gaetz has vehemently denied the allegations investigated by the Justice Department and the committee, including the claim that he had sex with a woman in 2017 when she was a minor.
CNN reported Thursday that sources familiar with her testimony said the woman told the ethics committee she had two sexual encounters with Gaetz at one 2017 party, when she was 17 years old. She testified that the second sexual encounter, which has not previously been reported, included another adult woman. She also testified to both sexual encounters in a civil deposition as part of a related lawsuit, sources said.
After being asked for comment for CNN’s story, Gaetz announced his withdrawal as Trump’s nominee for attorney general.
Trump and members of his transition team were notified that Gaetz would be withdrawing before he made the announcement, two sources familiar with the matter told CNN. One source noted that there was a belief that more damning information would be coming out from the ethics report, and that members of Gaetz’s orbit learned there might be witnesses who had been interviewed by the committee who had been previously unknown.
Multiple sources also said that while Gaetz’s meetings with GOP senators on Wednesday were not negative, it became clear that there were too many hard “Nos” from them, and that information expected to come out of the ethics report would likely make confirmation impossible.
While Trump was all in on Gaetz and believed he was the right person to “disrupt” the Justice Department, as one Trump adviser characterized it, many allies and advisers helping with the transition had serious doubts about Gaetz’s ability to make it through Senate confirmation hearings, two sources familiar with the discussions told CNN. Those doubts had been shared directly with Trump.
Sources briefed on the meetings Gaetz and Vice President-elect JD Vance held with those Republican senators said they felt the lawmakers were keeping an open mind on Gaetz, but there was clear uneasiness in the Senate about what could still unfold regarding the allegations against him.
Reacting to the news, Trump on Thursday said Gaetz was “doing very well” and suggested he has a bright future. “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. Matt has a wonderful future, and I look forward to watching all of the great things he will do!” the president-elected posted on X.
“President Trump remains committed to choosing a leader for the Department of Justice who will strongly defend the Constitution and end the weaponization of our justice system,” Trump-Vance spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said in a statement. “President Trump will announce his new decision when it is made.”
Trump does not have a new name in mind for attorney general and now returns to the drawing board, two people familiar with the matter told CNN.
Trump has selected other controversial Cabinet picks, including former Fox News host Pete Hegseth for secretary of the Defense Department and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for the Department of Health and Human Services. Hegseth, who faces a sexual assault allegation that he has denied, is meeting with senators on Thursday.
CNN’s Kristen Holmes, Alayna Treene and Kaitlan Collins contributed to this report.
This story has been updated with additional developments.
Read the full article here
