Former Rep. Matt Gaetz’s abrupt withdrawal from consideration to lead the Justice Department on Thursday was met with mixed reactions in the Senate, where some Republicans were glad the brief but dramatic saga was over, while others were stunned.
The end of Mr. Gaetz’s eight-day stint as President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for attorney general blindsided Republicans, some of whom had raised concerns about whether he could survive the Senate’s confirmation process.
The announcement did please some senators who had concerns about his nomination.
“I am,” Sen. Lisa Murkowski, Alaska Republican, said when asked if she was happy. “I think it was the right decision.”
Sen. Markwayne Mullin, Oklahoma Republican, said Mr. Gaetz removing himself from the process was a “positive move.”
“It was probably a good decision at this point,” he said, noting it would have been “very difficult for him to get confirmed.”
Mr. Gaetz was dogged by allegations he had sex with a minor while serving in Congress, which he has denied.
Before Mr. Gaetz resigned from the House last week, the Ethics Committee was investigating the sexual misconduct claims, as well as allegations that Mr. Gaetz engaged in illicit drug use, accepted improper gifts and dispensed special privileges and tried to obstruct government probes of his conduct.
The equally split bipartisan panel deadlocked this week when voting whether to release a report on its findings, which many senators said they wanted access to as part of Mr. Gaetz’s confirmation proceedings.
In announcing his decision to withdraw as Mr. Trump’s attorney general pick, Mr. Gaetz said his confirmation “was unfairly becoming a distraction” to the transition team’s work.
The confirmation process is less about getting senators to vote for the nominee than it is to keep them from voting no, Mr. Mullin said.
“It was a challenge for him when he started, and as more reports came out, I think the challenge became harder and harder,” he said.
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Mr. Mullin previously clashed with Mr. Gaetz over his effort to oust former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who is good friends with Mr. Mullin. During the speaker debacle, Mr. Mullin, a former House member, went on TV to call Mr. Gaetz “unprincipled” and describe how he would brag about his sexual encounters to House colleagues.
“We had all seen the videos he was showing on the House floor, that all of us had walked away, of the girls that he had slept with,” he told CNN. “He’d brag about how he would crush ED medicine and chase it with an energy drink so he could go all night.”
Mr. Mullin said Thursday he only talked to Mr. Gaetz once after he was nominated for attorney general.
“Matt and I have not had harsh words through this process,” he said. “I have not publicly spoken, you know, harsh about him since the nomination, even though what I said was accurate when I said it. But I also respect President Trump’s ability to pick the right people he needs in his Cabinet to get his job done.”
Sen. Kevin Cramer, North Dakota Republican, said he is “grateful” Mr. Gaetz dropped out “because we can move on.”
He suggested Mr. Trump nominate Matthew Whitaker, who served as acting attorney general for about seven months in the first Trump administration. Mr. Trump has already announced Mr. Whitaker as his pick for U.S. ambassador to NATO, but he can still change his mind since he won’t submit formal nominations to the Senate until he becomes president.
Mr. Cramer said Mr. Whitaker is “built” for the attorney general position.
“He can be just as ball-busting as Matt Gaetz, but he could probably do it in a kinder, gentler way and be more effective at it,” he said.
Sen. Tommy Tuberville, Alabama Republican, said he would like to see Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton hold the role at the federal level. Most other Republican senators declined to weigh in with any preferences for who should be the next attorney general nominee, deferring to Mr. Trump’s judgment.
Mr. Gaetz withdrawing will likely remind Mr. Trump of “other very qualified individuals who can help to revamp the Justice Department,” said Sen. Mike Rounds, South Dakota Republican. “Probably a number of them would be very acceptable to members of the Senate who really do want to see the president’s agenda move forward.”
Mr. Gaetz’s abrupt decision to withdraw from consideration came less than 24 hours after he spent a day with Vice President-elect J.D. Vance meeting with Republican senators.
The closed-door meetings were, in part, to promote his nomination to lead the Justice Department, and to quell any concerns lawmakers may have had about the allegations against him.
Sen. John Kennedy, Louisiana Republican, said his meeting with Mr. Gaetz didn’t spend much time on the allegations, but instead focused on how the hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee would work, and what his plan for running the Justice Department would be.
The lawmaker didn’t ask Mr. Gaetz for specifics on how he would run the department, but noted that he didn’t disagree when he brought up the issue of the weaponization of the Justice Department.
“I mean you don’t have to be Einstein’s cousin to see there’s a problem with the department being politicized,” Mr. Kennedy said. “Look, it was a very pleasant meeting. He has, or had, a great team, and I’m surprised, but I don’t know anything other than that.”
Senate Republican Whip John Thune of South Dakota, who will serve as majority leader next Congress, told reporters he did not get a heads-up that Mr. Gaetz would be withdrawing from the confirmation process.
“It’s his call. It’s his decision in the end,” Mr. Thune said when asked if it was the right move. “He’s got to do what’s in the best interest of him and his family, but I respect the decision.”
Outgoing Sen. Mike Braun, Indiana Republican, said he had heard the notion floated that Mr. Gaetz’s nomination to lead the Justice Department could have been an intentional distraction from some of Mr. Trump’s other unconventional picks, but he believed the president-elect tapped people to be in his Cabinet who would “work with him.”
While Republican senators were more muted in their reaction to the news of Mr. Gaetz’s withdrawal, Sen. John Fetterman, Pennsylvania Democrat, was bombastic.
“Holy s—-, I didn’t see that coming,” he said.
When asked if he thought Mr. Gaetz’s exit would allow for Republicans to look at Mr. Trump’s other nominees with more scrutiny, Mr. Fetterman said “Well maybe, I don’t give a s—-, because it was never going to happen.”
Mr. Gaetz’s withdrawal came long before Mr. Trump could even formally nominate him for the post, because he has yet to assume the presidency.
“I think this may be the quickest non-nomination in American history,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, Connecticut Democrat.
Mr. Blumenthal said the pick showed Mr. Trump’s “catastrophically bad judgment” and that Mr. Gaetz’s nomination was “colossally doomed” from the start.
“Now the question is, how many others are going to have to withdraw as well?” he said. “And there will be others to withdraw. Make no mistake, the dominoes are falling. Lack of vetting, background checks, no qualifications. They need to look in the mirror, all these nominees, because it only gets worse for them when more of the truth comes out.”
• Lindsey McPherson can be reached at lmcpherson@washingtontimes.com.
• Alex Miller can be reached at amiller@washingtontimes.com.
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