Former Congressman Matt Gaetz withdrew himself from consideration as President-elect Donald Trump’s U.S. attorney general over concerns that four GOP senators would block his confirmation, according to The New York Times.
Trump nominated Gaetz to lead the Department of Justice (DOJ) on November 13. Gaetz promptly resigned from Congress soon after, effectively blocking the release of a House Ethics Committee report on allegations of sexual abuse and drug use. However, doubts about his Senate confirmation lingered.
After holding what he said were “excellent meetings” with Republican senators throughout Wednesday, Gaetz announced on Thursday afternoon that he would not be pursuing the attorney general job because his “confirmation was unfairly becoming a distraction to the critical work of the Trump/Vance Transition.”
Gaetz told associates that he believed Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Senators Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine and Senator-elect John Curtis of Utah were fully opposed to his nomination and would effectively kill his bid to lead DOJ, New York Times journalist Jonathan Swan reported on Thursday.
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Murkowski reportedly declined to comment to the newspaper when asked about Gaetz’s withdrawal, while McConnell called his decision “appropriate” and Collins praised him for having “put country first.” Curtis has not publicly commented on the matter.
Newsweek reached out for comment to the offices of McConnell, Murkowski, Collins and Curtis via email on Thursday.
Gaetz publicly insisted that “momentum” was strongly in favor of his nomination but said on Thursday that he was no longer seeking the job because he did not want a “protracted Washington scuffle” to distract from Trump’s new administration.
“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 said. “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 praised his former nominee in a post to Truth Social less than 20 minutes later, saying that he “greatly appreciate[d] the recent efforts of Matt Gaetz in seeking approval to be Attorney General” while also suggesting that the former congressman had become a “distraction.”
“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,” wrote Trump. “Matt has a wonderful future, and I look forward to watching all of the great things he will do!”
Hours later, the president-elect nominated former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, who also served on Trump’s legal team during his first impeachment trial, as his next nominee for U.S. attorney general.
Alyssa Farah Griffin, a White House aide and assistant to Trump during his first administration who has since become a critic, predicted during a CNN appearance on Wednesday night that the president-elect would not spend his “political capital” on Gaetz as controversy surrounding his nomination escalated.
“When I worked for Trump, I knew when there was somebody he was dug in on,” Griffin said. “A guy or gal that he had to have, somebody that he was really going to go down fighting for.”
“I’m not totally convinced that he’s there with Matt Gaetz,” she added. “This isn’t one of his buddies that he’s necessarily going to expend much of his own political capital for.”
