Matt Gaetz on Friday said he does “not intend” to return to Congress, after he withdrew his name from consideration for attorney general in Donald Trump’s next administration.
“I’m still going to be in the fight, but it’s going to be from a new perch. I do not intend to join the 119th Congress,” the former Florida House Republican told Turning Point USA’s Charlie Kirk in an interview.
“Don’t worry: I’m not going anywhere. I’m not taking off for like, you know, a tropical excursion for the rest of my life,” Gaetz later added, which could be a dig at Vice President Kamala Harris, who is currently vacationing in Hawaii with her family for the Thanksgiving holiday.
On Thursday, Trump’s most controversial Cabinet pick announced he was bowing out of the process.
Gaetz said Thursday that while “momentum was strong,” he felt his confirmation was “unfairly becoming a distraction” to the Trump transition. The turnaround came just eight days after Trump stunned Washington by nominating the far-right firebrand with a history of legal troubles to be the nation’s top law enforcement officer.
Gaetz’s withdrawal came a day after he met with senators amid the prospect of contentious confirmation hearings in 2025, and as damning alleged sexual misconduct details have leaked in recent days: Two women testified to the House Ethics Committee that Gaetz paid them for sexual favors and one said Gaetz had sex with a 17-year-old. House Ethics Republicans voted Wednesday against releasing a report that allegedly contained these details, although it’s possible the full report could still come out.
Gaetz was facing an uphill battle to be confirmed by the Senate: Several Republican senators openly criticized his nomination, which suggested enough could vote with Democrats to block Gaetz, who is widely disliked in Congress.
Trump nominated Gaetz, a staunch loyalist, with an apparent aim to clean out a Justice Department that they railed against and which investigated both of them.
Gaetz resigned from the House last week, seemingly in an attempt to block the Ethics Committee from releasing the report. Prior to Gaetz’s statement Friday, there were questions as to whether he would return to the House given it would still be legally permissible for him to be sworn back into Congress on January 3 after he won reelection to another term on November 5.
