Attorney General-designate Matt Gaetz withdrew his name from consideration on Thursday, one day after meeting with GOP senators on Capitol Hill — and with a potentially damning congressional ethics report still hanging over his head.
Gaetz, 42, said in an X post he “had excellent meetings with Senators” before adding that “it is clear that my confirmation was unfairly becoming a distraction to the critical work of the Trump/Vance Transition.”
“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,” he went on. “Trump’s DOJ must be in place and ready on Day 1.”
“I remain fully committed to see that Donald J. Trump is the most successful President in history,” the former Republican congressman went on. “I will forever be honored that President Trump nominated me to lead the Department of Justice and I’m certain he will Save America.”
Gaetz resigned from Congress on Nov. 13, hours after Trump nominated him as the nation’s top law enforcement officer.
His ascent, however, was complicated by the resurfacing of details from a sex trafficking probe into him by the Justice Department — which was wrapped up in early 2023 without Gaetz being charged — and an ongoing House Ethics Committee investigation of alleged drug abuse and sexual misconduct, among other transgressions.
Female witnesses who testified to both federal and congressional investigators alleged that the then-congressman had sex with them for money — making more than $10,000 in Venmo payments, according to transaction records obtained by ABC News.
At least one of those witnesses also claimed that she saw Gaetz having sex with a 17-year-old girl at a party in July 2017, during his first term in Congress.
A GOP aide previously had predicted to The Post that Gaetz would not be confirmed in the Senate, saying: “This is all a play to become a martyr to boost [Gaetz’s 2026] gubernatorial prospects [in Florida].”
