Matt Gaetz announced this Thursday that he is withdrawing his name as President-elect Donald Trump’s candidate for attorney general of the United States. “Although the momentum was strong, it is clear that my confirmation was unfairly becoming a distraction to the critical work of the Trump/Vance Transition,” the former Republican congressman from Florida indicated through the social network X. Gaetz’s candidacy has been eroded by his sexual scandals with minors and accusations of illegal drug use, among others. This same Thursday, allegations against him that he had sexual relations on a second occasion with a minor had emerged.
Several of Trump’s appointments have been a kind of blow to the system, but none was as controversial as Gaetz’s, in which a lack of technical preparation and adequate professional experience was combined with a moral character inappropriate for the position. It meant going from being investigated by the Department of Justice to directing it. His name aroused strong rejection, even among Republicans. The president-elect himself and the one who will be his vice president, JD Vance, have been trying to convince senators to support him, but the chances of failure in the necessary confirmation vote in the Senate were very high.
Gaetz is one of the most hated characters by Republican congressmen. Their animosity against him increased when he presented the motion of no confidence that led to the removal of Kevin McCarthy as speaker of the House of Representatives. “There is no time to waste in an unnecessarily prolonged brawl in Washington, therefore, I will withdraw my name from consideration to serve as attorney general,” the candidate explained. Thus, he avoids going through the ordeal of having to give humiliating public explanations about his conduct when being examined by the Senate.
Trump has thanked Gaetz for his withdrawal. “I greatly appreciate Matt Gaetz’s recent efforts to get approved to be attorney general. He was doing very well, but at the same time, he didn’t want to be a distraction to the Administration, for which he has a lot of respect. “Matt has a wonderful future, and I can’t wait to see all the great things he will do!” the president-elect tweeted on Social Truth.
For the president-elect, Gaetz’s resignation represents a certain failure. Trump confirms that not even his own group is willing to agree with all the millstones in his second term, although his influence on the Republican Party is very high. The rejection has been so broad that not even the option of taking advantage of a recess to appoint him seemed acceptable to the congressmen. Gaetz’s appointment, on the other hand, has somewhat distracted attention from others that are also very questionable.
Among them is Tulsi Gabbard as head of the intelligence services, despite the fact that she has shown sympathy for Russia, Syria, Iran and China. Former US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley has attacked that proposal. Also controversial are those of television presenter Pete Hegseth for Secretary of Defense or that of anti-vaccine Robert F. Kennedy as Secretary of Health. Aside from the pair’s questionable suitability for the position, Hegseth has been accused of sexual assault, which he denies, while Kennedy was accused of abusing a family nanny, which he says he does not remember doing.
Trump now has to name a new nominee for attorney general. For number two in the Department of Justice he had initially proposed his own personal lawyer, Todd Blanche, another appointment full of controversy. Blanche is now in the running for attorney general. Whoever occupies that position will have the mission of freeing Trump from his accusations in the federal cases in which he is investigated. It will also have to process pardon measures for the thousand of those prosecuted and convicted for the assault on the Capitol.
Fallen by scandals
Gaetz resigned from his seat in the House of Representatives as soon as Trump proposed his name to be attorney general. It was a maneuver so that the Ethics Commission of the lower house would not release a report with the findings of an investigation into him. This Wednesday, that committee met, but without reaching an agreement to publish the report due to opposition from Republicans.
This investigation includes, as it has emerged, the statement of a woman who claims that she had sexual relations with the deputy in exchange for money when she was 17 years old and that of another woman who has sworn that she witnessed the encounter. The trail of payments for sex made by the then congressman also appears.
The woman who claims she had sex when she was a minor with then-Representative Matt Gaetz told the House Ethics Committee that she had two sexual encounters with him at a party in 2017, sources familiar with her have told CNN. testimony. The woman, who was 17 at the time, testified that the second sexual encounter, which had not been previously reported, included another adult woman. The woman also testified about both sexual encounters in a civil deposition as part of a related lawsuit.
Gaetz has been re-elected as a congressman in the November 5 elections. It remains to be seen if he takes up his seat in January, when the new legislature begins and if, in that case, the investigation into his conduct is made public, also in relation to drug use and possible diversion of funds. Initially, when he presented his resignation, he stated that he did not intend to be sworn in as a representative in the new Congress, but then he still expected to be attorney general.
Trump won the presidential elections on November 5 with a large majority of 312 to 226 delegates in the Electoral College, the indirect election system, but with the smallest difference in the popular vote against the rival candidacy since the 2000 elections. an advantage of about 2.5 million votes, less than two points, over Kamala Harris. As for Congress, the Republicans will have 53 of the 100 senators in the new legislature. In the House of Representatives, more than two weeks after the vote date, the scrutiny of three districts is pending completion. The Republicans have won 219 of the 435 seats, while the Democrats have 213. The majority is narrow and if several of the Republican congressmen leave their positions due to Trump’s appointments, the margin will be reduced even further.
I had excellent meetings with Senators yesterday. I appreciate your 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…
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