What a roller coaster of a week for former Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida. Last week, President-elect Donald Trump nominated the woefully unqualified, credibly accused sex criminal to run national law enforcement as Trump's attorney general. Every member of Congress partook in a collective, bipartisan guffaw. And as additional, incriminating details about a still-unreleased House Ethics Committee report into Gaetz's conduct began to trickle to the surface, Gaetz on Thursday withdrew from consideration for the position.
In a statement dripping with bitterness, Gaetz wrote that after "excellent meetings with Senators yesterday," in which Republicans gave him "thoughtful feedback," he's stepping down because his confirmation "was unfairly becoming a distraction to the critical work of the Trump/Vance Transition.” (As one social media user put it, a more accurate translation of that might be: "I had excellent meetings with Senators yesterday, where they told me to eat shit and die.")
The DOJ first opened an investigation in 2021 into allegations that Gaetz trafficked and had a sexual encounter with a 17-year-old girl in 2017; the investigation was closed in 2023 without explanation and Gaetz wasn't charged. But the House Ethics Committee launched their own investigation in 2021, too, and it remained ongoing. They were reportedly going to decide whether or not to release the report last week until Gaetz abruptly resigned from the House, which meant the committee lost jurisdiction over him. But several senators and the public alike, as well as an attorney for the woman who Gaetz allegedly trafficked as a minor, still called on the House to release the report.
Gaetz's announcement on Thursday follows near-hourly updates about the allegations since last week. CNN reports that Gaetz's announcement came just 45 minutes after they called him for comment on their story reporting that there were allegedly multiple encounters between him and the 17-year-old girl in 2017.
As of this week, new reports also revealed how Gaetz appeared to use his adopted, adult son (?) Nestor's PayPal account to pay for sex. Other reports show Gaetz sending suspicious Venmo payments between 2017 and 2019 totaling $10,000 to young women, for reasons including "being my friend," "joy," "being awesome," "love you," and "just because."
Gaetz's decision has sparked a range of reactions. Trump said in a Truth Social post, that while he "greatly appreciate[d]" Gaetz's efforts, he has "much respect" for Gaetz's decision to withdraw. Vice President-elect JD Vance thanked Gaetz "for the work [he] put into the nomination process," although it's unclear how much work, exactly, it takes to post smug tweets and deny pedophilia allegations. Sen. Rick Scott (R-Florida) said he was "disappointed." Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) said Gaetz deserved a hearing, though, let's be real—the longer Gaetz stayed in the running, let alone would have to sit in front of ferocious questioning from the likes of, say, Elizabeth Warren, the more embarrassing it would get for Republicans.
Meanwhile, across the political spectrum, Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota called Gaetz's withdrawal "inevitable" and said she's "glad this is behind us." Warren cheekily tweeted, "One down." And the top national anti-sexual violence organization celebrated the announcement: "We could not reconcile the Justice Department—the department responsible for providing survivors with avenues for justice—being led by an alleged abuser of women. ... Survivors will not be silenced.” The organization then called "for the other nominees facing allegations of sexual assault" to be adequately investigated before being voted on in the Senate.
As recent as Tuesday, sources close to Trump said he was beginning to doubt that Gaetz could be confirmed. (You don't say!) And now, here we are. I will say, I don't think any of the Republican senators in question here are heroes—they unequivocally stand by Trump, a legally recognized sexual abuser. And GOP senators overwhelmingly seem to back Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Pete Hegseth, two other men with sexual misconduct allegations whom Trump has tapped to run the Health and Human Services and Defense Departments respectively. (Around the same time Gaetz stepped down, police released new, chilling details about the rape allegation against Hegseth, and still no word from Trump or Senate Republicans.) What seems more likely is just that the allegations against Gaetz simply received outsized public attention. It doesn't help that most Congressional Republicans famously hate Gaetz for generally being an asshole.
In any case, endings are oft just new beginnings, and Gaetz's demise and impending unemployment officially pave the way for a new, horrible person to be nominated for attorney general. As a reminder, the attorney general could potentially enforce a national ban on mailing abortion pills or other abortion-related supplies. A couple of terrifying names being floated to replace Gaetz include Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), an anti-abortion extremist, and the notoriously litigious Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who's waged war on everything from life-saving, emergency abortions and basic medical privacy for abortion seekers, to abortion funds' right to exist. So... we have all that to look forward to!
