Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Florida) speaks on the House floor about a possible motion to remove House Speaker Kevin McCarthy from office outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on October 2. Speak to media personnel. 2023.
Saul Loeb | AFP | Getty Images
Matt Gaetz announced Thursday that he is withdrawing from President-elect Donald Trump’s candidacy for U.S. attorney general, ending a controversial bid that drew attention to previous allegations of sexual misconduct.
“I had a great meeting with the senators yesterday and am grateful for their thoughtful feedback and the incredible support of so many people,” Gaetz said in a statement posted to his X account. said.
“While momentum was strong, it is clear that my confirmation unfairly impeded the important work of the Trump/Vance transition,” the former Republican congressman from Florida said.
“There is no time to waste on needlessly protracted Washington brawls, so I am withdrawing my name from the running for attorney general,” he said.
A Justice Department investigation into whether Gaetz sex trafficked underage girls ended last year without charges being filed. However, the House Ethics Committee has since reconvened. unique probe Allegations that Mr. Gates engaged in sexual misconduct and illegal drug use, accepted inappropriate gifts, provided special favors to personal associates, and attempted to obstruct government efforts to investigate Mr. Gates. About.
CNN’s Paula Reed said Gates’ resignation came less than an hour after the newspaper asked for comment. the report One woman told the Ethics Committee that she had two sexual encounters with Gates in 2017 when she was 17 years old.
Gaetz denies having sex with an underage girl. His decision to resign from Congress after the AG’s election removed him from the committee’s jurisdiction and effectively ended the ethics investigation.
A House committee with evenly divided Republicans and Democrats deadlocked Wednesday on a vote to release a report on the Gaetz investigation.
Rep. Susan Wilde of Pennsylvania, the ranking Democrat on the committee, said the committee had agreed to reconvene on Dec. 5 to “further consider this issue.”
playing cards Told on Truth Social Late Thursday, Gaetz said he was “doing very well, but at the same time I didn’t want to get in the way of the administration. I have a lot of respect for the administration.”
Caroline Leavitt, a spokeswoman for Trump’s transition team, said in a statement that the president-elect “remains committed to selecting leaders for the Department of Justice who will strongly defend the Constitution and end the weaponization of our justice system.” said.
Mr. Levitt told CNBC that President Trump “will make an announcement once a new decision is made.”
Had Gaetz continued to seek the role, he might have faced a difficult path to confirmation in the Republican-controlled Senate.
The former lawmaker often clashed with members of both parties in Congress. reportedly A significant number of Republican senators opposed it.
Gaetz and Vice President-elect J.D. Vance met with senators at the Capitol on Wednesday.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R.S.C.) said after his meeting with Gaetz and Vance that he would be inclined to “hold off on selecting the president’s cabinet unless there is evidence to suggest disqualification.”
“I very much appreciate the work Matt put into the nomination process,” Vance said in an X-Post Thursday afternoon.
“He made the decision to withdraw entirely out of respect for President Trump’s administration,” Vance wrote.
Gaetz’s withdrawal also came a day after the Democratic majority on the Senate Judiciary Committee called on the FBI to turn over all evidence collected in its investigation of the former lawmaker.
“The serious public allegations against Mr. Gaetz speak directly to his suitability as the federal government’s top law enforcement officer,” their letter reads.
Gates is the first person Trump has pulled out of the race to join the next administration.
He’s not the only one facing allegations of cheating. police records released Wednesday night reports revealed that Pete Hegseth, President Trump’s pick to lead the Pentagon, was accused of sexually assaulting a woman in 2017.
Hegseth’s attorney, Timothy Parlatore, told NBC News that the report “remains true to what I have said in the past: the incident was thoroughly investigated and no charges were filed because police determined the charges were false.” This confirms that.”
Police have not given a reason for not charging Hegseth.
Hegseth, a former Fox News anchor, denied the allegations. his lawyer admitted he paid the woman An undisclosed amount as part of a confidential civil settlement agreement. Parlatore accused the woman of trying to “extract money from Mr. Hegseth.”
— CNBC’s Ece Yildirim contributed to this report.
