Matt Gaetz announced Thursday he is withdrawing his name from consideration as President-elect Donald Trump’s pick as attorney general, noting in a social media post that his nomination had become a distraction.
Gaetz held multiple meetings with GOP senators over the past couple of days as he sought to game out his chances of getting confirmed. Even senators who supported him had expressed doubts that he could get confirmed, given he could only lose three Republican votes.
“It is clear that my confirmation was unfairly becoming a distraction to the critical work of the Trump/Vance Transition. 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’s DOJ must be in place and ready on Day 1,” Gaetz wrote on X.
Trump praised Gaetz’s decision in a social media post soon after, saying the decision has his “respect” and that “Matt has a wonderful future.”
Gaetz was seen as Trump’s most controversial pick. Almost immediately after Trump announced Gaetz would lead the Department of Justice, the campaign and senators were peppered with questions about his alleged sexual misconduct and drug use — accusations Gaetz has denied.
Multiple senators appeared relieved that Gaetz withdrew immediately after the announcement.
“I think what I just read was that he felt this was going to be a major distraction, and so good on him to recognize that and be self aware,” said Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.).
“I’m not surprised,” said Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.).
And some senators said they wanted to see a long-awaited House Ethics Committee report that detailed some of those allegations. The panel had punted on a decision to release it, but even House Republicans had voiced support for at least sharing the investigative findings with senators as they considered Gaetz for attorney general. It’s unclear if that position will change now that he’s withdrawn, though Rep. Sean Casten (D-Ill.) said he still planned to try to to force a vote on the House floor to release the report.
“It remains important that the Gaetz report be made available to the American people,” Casten said in a statement.
Ursula Perano and Daniella Diaz contributed to this report.