Gaetz’s nomination faced controversy and an uphill confirmation battle
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By Sarah Mester
Matt Gaetz has withdrawn himself from consideration for U.S. Attorney General (AG) after President-elect Trump nominated him on November 13. Gaetz resigned from his congressional seat (FL-1) to accept the nomination, which quickly attracted controversy.
Gaetz announced his decision on X: “I had excellent meetings with Senators yesterday. I appreciate their thoughtful feedback – and the incredible support of so many. While the momentum was strong, 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. Trump’s DOJ must be in place and ready on Day 1.”
Trump quickly responded to Gaetz’s decision on Truth Social: “I greatly appreciate the recent efforts of Matt Gaetz in seeking approval to be Attorney General. 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!”
Before resigning from the House, Gaetz had been facing multiple House Ethics Committee inquiries related to “allegations of sexual misconduct and other alleged crimes”. The House Ethics Committee report on the misconduct has not been made public and there has been disagreement over whether it should be, with CNN reporting that the “panel’s Republicans voted on Wednesday not to release the probe’s results” despite pressure from Democrats. A final vote on the decision will be held on December 5.
Although Trump had nominated Gaetz for AG, he would still have had to be confirmed and there were concerns that Gaetz would face a contentious, uphill battle in the Senate. Gaetz has also confirmed that he would not try to reclaim the congressional seat he withdrew from to accept the AG nomination.
Sarah Mester is a senior in the College studying Political Science and Classics from San Francisco, CA. She’s the Assistant News Editor for The Pennsylvania Post. Her email is smester@sas.upenn.edu.
