Gaetz withdraws, reopening contention for Trump’s AG position

Former congressman Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., will withdraw from his bid to be president-elect Donald Trump’s attorney general, Gaetz announced in a social media post Thursday.
“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,” Gaetz wrote. “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.”
In the week since Trump said he would nominate Gaetz to his Cabinet, Gaetz faced sharp scrutiny from lawmakers and colleagues — both Republican and Democrat — for his checkered past. Gaetz was the subject of a federal sex trafficking investigation based on allegations that Gaetz paid underage girls for sex and transported them across state lines, although that investigation ended without Gaetz being charged.
In recent days, discussions over Gaetz’s fitness for office overshadowed Trump’s other Cabinet selections. On Wednesday, the Republicans on the House Ethics Committee voted against releasing its investigation into Gaetz, which concluded after Gaetz abruptly resigned from his position to accept Trump’s nomination.
But details of the Ethics Committee’s report, and the separate Department of Justice investigation, have begun to leak. CNN reported that the Ethics Committee was informed of two alleged sexual encounters between Gaetz and a 17-year-old woman. The New York Times reported that federal investigators found a web of Venmo payments between Gaetz, associates and women who say Gaetz paid them for sex.
The attorney general position, as with other Cabinet posts, requires Senate confirmation. On Wednesday, Gaetz and Sen. JD Vance, the vice president-elect, visited with Republican senators, lobbying them to back Gaetz.
In his social media post Thursday, Gaetz called the meetings “excellent,” and thanked the senators for their “thoughtful feedback — and the incredible support of so many.”
In a post on Truth Social, Trump said he “greatly appreciate(d)” Gaetz’s efforts. “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,” Trump said.