Former Rep. Matt Gaetz said Thursday that he was withdrawing from consideration to be attorney general in the Trump administration amid persistent allegations that he had sex with a minor and paid women for sex.
Hours later, President-elect Donald Trump announced Thursday night that he is nominating former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, 59, to serve as U.S. attorney general. In a statement, Mr. Trump said Ms. Bondi is “smart and tough” and “will do a terrific job.”
Mr. Gaetz announced the move less than 24 hours after meeting with Republican senators at the Capitol to lobby for his confirmation. In a post on X, Mr. Gaetz said he “had excellent meetings with Senators,” but his nomination overshadowed Mr. Trump’s agenda.
“While the momentum was strong, it was clear that my confirmation was unfairly becoming a distraction other than the critical work for the Trump/Vance transition,” Mr. Gaetz wrote on X. “There is not time to waste on a needless protracted Washington scuffle, thus I’ll be withdrawing my name from consideration to serve as attorney general.”
Mr. Trump announced his intention to nominate Mr. Gaetz eight days earlier to shake up the Justice Department and purge it of partisan prosecutors.
Mr. Gaetz, 42, said he remains “fully committed” to ensuring Mr. Trump’s success and was “honored” to have been considered to lead the Justice Department.
SEE ALSO: Gaetz’s withdrawal earns mixed reactions of relief, surprise from Senate Republicans
Mr. Trump confirmed in a statement that Mr. Gaetz had taken his name out of consideration.
“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,” Mr. Trump said.
Republican lawmakers on the Hill offered muted reactions. Some Republican senators had withheld their support for Mr. Gaetz until they learned more about the sexual misconduct accusations.
Incoming Senate Majority Leader John Thune, South Dakota Republican, said he respected Mr. Gaetz’s decision to withdraw.
“I think everybody had to make a decision that’s good for them and for their family,” Mr. Thune told reporters. “And, you know, for whatever reason, he decided not to pursue it, so we respect the decision.”
Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said he had a good meeting with Mr. Gaetz.
“He is very smart and talented and will continue to contribute to our nation’s well-being for years to come,” Mr. Graham said. “I look forward to working with President Trump regarding future nominees to get this important job up and running.”
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell delivered a more blunt response. He told The Washington Post, “I think that was appropriate.”
“As we talk about the Department of Justice more broadly — look, the president has said when it comes to investigation, that department should be independent. There should be no partisanship. There should be no loyalty to one party or the other. The loyalty should be to the Constitution, and the loyalty should be to the rule of law.”
Democrats said Mr. Gaetz never should have been nominated.
“A qualified nominee for the highest position in law enforcement must be honest and complete in disclosing his background. Mr. Gaetz did not meet that standard,” said Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Richard J. Durbin, Illinois Democrat. “It’s time for Donald Trump to put forward a serious nominee for attorney general who will fight for equal justice for all Americans.”
Ms. Bondi is the first woman to serve as Florida’s attorney general, spending eight years in the position. She also worked in the Trump White House both as a legal advisor and defense attorney for Mr. Trump’s 2020 Senate impeachment trial, and served on a Trump commission focused on ending the opioid crisis and combating drug addiction.
She also led 26 other state attorneys general in an unsuccessful bid to overturn the Affordable Care Act.
Mr. Gaetz resigned from Congress on Nov. 13, just hours after Mr. Trump nominated him as the nation’s top law enforcement officer.
He was the subject of a Justice Department sex trafficking investigation that ended last year without charges against him. Mr. Gaetz had long denied wrongdoing and insisted the allegations were part of a “deep state” plot to torpedo him because he was one of Mr. Trump’s strongest advocates on the Hill.
Although Mr. Gaetz was not charged with a crime, he was the subject of a long-running House Ethics Committee investigation into allegations of illicit drug use, sexual misconduct, improperly accepting gifts and other transgressions. That probe ended when Mr. Gaetz resigned from Congress.
House investigators interviewed more than a dozen witnesses and issued 25 subpoenas, the committee said.
It was revealed this week that two women told the House Ethics Committee that Mr. Gaetz paid them for sex multiple times, and one of them witnessed him having sex with a 17-year-old against a game table during a July 2017 party. The women also told House investigators that Mr. Gaetz asked them via text message about “party favors” and “vitamins” at upcoming parties, which they understood to be code for drugs.
The information was unveiled by Orlando-based lawyer Joel Leppard, who was representing the two witnesses.
Mr. Gaetz allegedly sent the two women more than $10,000 in Venmo payments, according to transactions obtained by ABC News.
Although he resigned from the current Congress, Mr. Gaetz won reelection to his seat. It is not clear whether he will return to Congress in the session that convenes in January or what that would mean for the ethics investigation.
In his resignation letter, Mr. Gaetz said he does “not intend to take the oath of office” in January. He cannot legally resign from a Congress that has not started, and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, has not yet called a special election. That would pave the way for Mr. Gaetz to return in January, though the issue is complicated and legally murky.
Before Mr. Trump named Ms. Bondi as his replacement for Mr. Gaetz, several names had been mentioned as potential picks for attorney general. The names included Sen. Mike Lee, Utah Republican; Mike Davis, who leads the Article III Project, which advocates for conservative judges; Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton; legal strategist Mark Paoletta; Sen. Eric Schmitt, a Missouri Republican who had been his state’s attorney general; and Matthew Whitaker, who served as acting attorney general for about seven months in the first Trump administration.
Several of those would have hit snags during the confirmation process.
Mr. Davis posted Thursday afternoon on X that the “best options” are “Mark Paoletta, Chris Landau, Mike Lee (Not me).” Mr. Schmitt has posted on the same platform that he would rather stay in the Senate than serve in the Cabinet. Mr. Trump said Wednesday that he would nominate Mr. Whitaker as U.S. ambassador to NATO.
Still, Mr. Trump is poised to have several trusted allies running the Department of Justice.
The incoming president has tapped Todd Blanche, a former federal prosecutor representing him in legal cases, to serve as deputy attorney general. Emil Bove will serve as principal associate deputy attorney general, and D. John Sauer, representing Mr. Trump before the Supreme Court, is in line to be solicitor general, the fourth highest ranking job at the Justice Department.
Things were looking worse for Mr. Gaetz.
Just as he was withdrawing from the nomination, CNN reported that he had a second alleged sexual encounter with a 17-year-old girl.
Despite the allegations, Mr. Trump stood by his nominee. When reporters asked him Wednesday whether he was considering replacing Mr. Gaetz, the president-elect responded, “No.”
Mr. Trump announced Mr. Gaetz as his pick for attorney general two days before the ethics panel was scheduled to discuss whether to release the report detailing its investigation.
Because he stepped down from his position to accept the nomination, the committee’s jurisdiction over Mr. Gaetz ended, creating doubt about the report’s release.
Mr. Gaetz’s abrupt withdrawal from consideration now raises questions about how quickly the committee will release its report, if at all. Republican and Democratic lawmakers from both chambers had pushed the panel to release the report publicly or hand it off to the Senate Judiciary Committee.
During a meeting on Wednesday, the committee voted to finish its report and meet again on Dec. 5 to decide whether to release it.
Rep. Michael Guest, Mississippi Republican and the panel chairman, has argued that the Ethics Committee does not have jurisdiction over Mr. Gaetz because he is no longer a member of Congress and should not release the report. House Speaker Mike Johnson, Louisiana Republican, agreed.
Reps. Sean Casten, Illinois Democrat, and Steve Cohen, Tennessee Democrat, filed separate resolutions Wednesday night that would force the House to vote on whether to release the report.
Mr. Casten’s office confirmed to The Washington Times that he still plans to pursue his resolution, which lawmakers will likely take up on the House floor after the Thanksgiving break.
“While I welcome the news that Matt Gaetz is withdrawing from consideration for Attorney General, it remains important that the Gaetz report be made available to the American people,” Mr. Casten said.
The Gaetz withdrawal adds another chapter to Mr. Trump’s turbulent relationship with the office of attorney general, which dates back to his 2016 nomination of Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, the first sitting senator to support his presidential campaign.
In his nomination announcement, Mr. Trump said Mr. Sessions is “a world-class legal mind” and “greatly admired by legal scholars.” The relationship soured after Mr. Sessions recused himself from the Department of Justice’s investigation into Russia’s purported interference in the 2016 election.
Mr. Trump demanded that Mr. Sessions stop the “Rigged Witch Hunt” and fired him in November 2018. He tapped Mr. Whitaker, a former U.S. attorney in Iowa, as acting attorney general. He even went so far as to campaign against Mr. Sessions in the Republican primary when he tried to regain his Senate seat.
William Barr was later confirmed to the post, which he held under President George H.W. Bush.
Mr. Barr became a vocal critic of Mr. Trump’s attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election but said he would vote for him in the 2024 election.
• Tom Howell Jr. contributed to this report.
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.
• Alex Miller can be reached at amiller@washingtontimes.com.
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.
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