Matt Gaetz withdraws his bid for attorney general amid sexual misconduct allegations

The former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., announced Thursday that he would withdraw his name from consideration to become President-elect 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 momentum was strong, it is clear that my confirmation was unfairly becoming a distraction from the critical work of The Trump/Vance Transition “Gaetz wrote in a post on Xjust a week after Trump announced he planned to nominate Gaetz for the post.

“There is no time to waste on an unnecessarily protracted dispute in Washington, so I will withdraw my name from consideration to serve as Attorney General. Trump’s DOJ must be in place and ready on Day 1,” Gaetz added.

IN a post on TruthSocialTrump praised Gaetz, saying he had done “very well” in the confirmation process.

“I greatly appreciate Matt Gaetz’s recent efforts to seek approval to become Attorney General. He did very well, but at the same time, he did not want to be a distraction to the administration, which he has great respect for. Matt has a wonderful future and I look forward to seeing all the amazing things he will do!” wrote the newly elected president.

Gaetz, whom Trump named last week as his choice for AG, faced significant headwinds in the confirmation process, including an earlier investigation by the department he was chosen to lead.

Trump’s selection of Gaetz brought a new investigation into past allegations against the former congressman, who faced a Justice Department probe involving allegations of sex trafficking and sex with a minor.

Gaetz has vehemently denied these allegations, and the investigation ended with the Justice Department choosing not to charge Gaetz.

He resigned from his House post last week, effectively ending a separate House Ethics Committee investigation into him.

The committee had been investigating the allegations against Gaetz on and off since 2021. Committee members met Wednesday to discuss whether to release the report of their investigation, but did not reach an agreement.

It is unclear what his decision to withdraw his name for the sake of Trump’s cabinet means for his congressional seat.

Gaetz said in his resignation that he would not be sworn in to the new Congress. “I do not intend to take the oath of office for the same office in the 119th Congress to pursue the position of Attorney General in the Trump administration,” he said.

Despite all this, Trump and Vice President Vance maintained their staunch support for Gaetz, with Trump even “working the phones hard” to drum up support for Gaetz and Vance attend meetings on Capitol Hill throughout Wednesday with senators wanting to hear from Gaetz about the allegations.

In the immediate aftermath of Trump’s selection of Gaetz to lead the Justice Department, a number of senators were skeptical that he would get enough votes to be confirmed by a Senate majority.

And after meeting with Gaetz on Wednesday, Sens. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, and John Cornyn, R-Texas, told NBC News that the subject of the allegations arose.

Ernst said Gaetz brought up the allegations himself during their conversation.

“He volunteered that,” she said, “I’m not going to go any further than that.”

“He was very forthcoming, but that’s all I’m going to say because he’s going to go through a very fair confirmation process with Senator Grassley, and I think a lot of this is going to wash out,” Ernst added. “I just reserve judgment.”

When asked if the allegations against Gaetz came to light, Cornyn said, “All I told him was — there will be no secrets here.”

“Everything comes out eventually,” Cornyn added.