He pulled out amid ongoing fallout over sexual misconduct allegations.
Matt Gaetz‘s political future is uncertain after his withdrawal on Thursday from consideration as Donald Trump’s nominee for attorney general. In a post on X, the former Florida congressman wrote that his nod “was unfairly becoming a distraction” amid continued fallout over a federal sex trafficking investigation and ensuing congressional probe. But the president-elect wasted no time selecting someone new and named former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi as his replacement.
Gaetz’s decision to back out wasn’t entirely surprising to some legal experts, though. “Gaetz was always to me someone who wasn’t going to make it through the confirmation process, even with a Republican Senate and a Republican president because he was hurt by his personal scandals,” former Acting U.S. Solicitor General Neal Katyal told Katie during an Instagram Live following the news. “The part that really gets me, though, is that’s what we all focused on as opposed to [Gaetz being] the most unqualified nominee for Attorney General in our lifetimes.”
Since Gaetz resigned from his position in Congress shortly after his AG nomination, there are some questions about what’s next for him, so we took a closer look.
Can Matt Gaetz return to Congress?
Since Gaetz resigned from Congress, his seat must be filled through a special election in Florida, per the Constitution. That means he can’t just take back his seat or be appointed to it.
Gaetz could end up back in the House by running again for his seat in Florida’s 1st Congressional District. And it appears he could have a good chance of winning — he just recently won reelection with 66.3% of the vote.
But some believe Gaetz’s chances of returning are slim: Former U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said in an episode of his podcast Stay Tuned with Preet that if Gaetz returns to the House, his potentially damning report will almost certainly be released. “If he comes back to the House, that sucker is coming out,” he said.
Meanwhile, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Monday he had “already received strong interest from several possible candidates, and we continue to gather names of additional candidates and conduct preliminary vetting.”
It’s still being determined when this special election will happen, as Florida law doesn’t explicitly state the timing for filling a vacancy. That said, House Speaker Mike Johnson said following Gaetz’s resignation that he’s hopeful that the empty spot could be filled when the next Congress is sworn in on Jan. 3.
What will happen to the Gaetz ethics report?
Trump’s nomination of Gaetz was met with controversy from the start over allegations that he participated in sex parties, used illegal drugs, and had two sexual encounters with a high school student. The FBI investigated most of these claims in 2021, but the Department of Justice never brought charges.
“His personal life was colorful, to say the least, and potentially illegal,” Katyal said, noting that Gaetz’s defense amounted to the fact that he was never charged. “But for the top law enforcement officer in the land, not being charged with a series of sexual and other offenses is a pretty low bar.”
The House Committee on Ethics has conducted its own investigation into the matter and was set to release its own report, which was derailed by Gaetz’s abrupt exit from Congress. Though the panel voted against releasing it on Thursday, that doesn’t close the door on it coming out in the future. An unnamed source told The Hill that the panel still voted to complete the report, and its members are scheduled to meet again on Dec. 5.
More than 90 House Democrats previously urged the panel to release the report, and some Senate Republicans have previously said they hope it’s made available for them to review.
How are lawmakers reacting to Gaetz’s AG withdrawal?
Numerous GOP lawmakers expressed relief over Gaetz’s decision to remove himself from consideration. “This is the only decent thing Matt Gaetz has ever done,” one House Republican told Axios on the condition of anonymity.
Others were less demure: “I don’t think he was going to make it across the finish line anyway,” said. New York Rep. Nick LaLota.
Trump, who had been personally calling lawmakers to try to drum up support for Gaetz, praised the ex-lawmaker after his nod fell through.
“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,” the president-elect wrote in part on Truth Social. “Matt has a wonderful future, and I look forward to watching all of the great things he will do!”
Gaetz’s failed nomination is widely viewed as a setback in Trump’s mission to install fierce loyalists in his administration and could signal just the beginning of the resistance he could face over his Cabinet picks with more checkered backgrounds.
