Matt Gaetz withdraws as attorney general nominee, says "Trump's DOJ must be in place and ready on Day 1"
Washington — Former Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz announced Thursday that he is withdrawing his nomination for attorney general. His decision came amid an investigation by the House Ethics Committee for alleged sexual misconduct and illicit drug use.
Gaetz denied any wrongdoing and called the investigation a "smear." He blamed the probe on former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, whose ouster Gaetz helped lead last year.
President-elect Donald Trump was calling Republican senators and associates as recently as Thursday morning to gauge Gaetz's chances that he could be confirmed, a person familiar with his calls told CBS News. Trump did not want to risk not having an attorney general on the first day of his second term given an anticipated wave of executive orders that would face legal challenges, according to another source familiar with the situation.
Gaetz concluded on his own that he lacked enough support from Republican senators, according to two people familiar with the situation. Ultimately, given the controversy surrounding Gaetz, at least 15 GOP senators might have opposed the pick, according to one of the sources. One GOP senator told CBS News that there werea at least eight hard "no" votes on Gaetz, a total that never budged.
Trump had tapped Gaetz to lead the Justice Department as the nation's top law enforcement officer last week. Gaetz swiftly resigned his seat in the House and was on Capitol Hill on Wednesday with Vice President-elect JD Vance, an Ohio senator, meeting with Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee who would oversee his confirmation hearings.
He said in a social media post that while he had "excellent meetings" with senators, his confirmation battle was taking away from the work of the incoming Trump 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," he wrote on social media. "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."
In response to Gaetz's decision, Trump wrote on social media, "I greatly appreciate the recent efforts of Matt Gaetz in seeking approval to be Attorney General. 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." A few hours later, Trump announced a new pick for the job, former Florida attorney general Pam Bondi.
Gaetz called both Trump and Vance separately to inform them of his decision, CBS News confirmed.
The Justice Department also conducted an investigation into Gaetz involving allegations of sex trafficking and obstruction. Prosecutors declined to charge Gaetz last year.
Gaetz's withdrawal came amid reporting of new details about testimony to the Ethics Committee given by a woman who said she had two encounters with the Florida Republican at a party in July 2017, when she was a minor, and months after he was sworn in to the House. According to two sources familiar with the matter, the woman said the second encounter was a threesome. However, the person she identified as the other woman in the threesome has repeatedly denied under oath to the committee this happened.
"My client denies witnessing and/or participating in any sexual activities between Congressman Matt Gaetz and the 17-year-old minor in Orlando, Florida, in 2017," a lawyer for the third participant said.
CNN was first to report the second encounter between Gaetz and the then 17-year-old.
Several senators had expressed concerns about installing Gaetz as attorney general, raising doubts that he would win confirmation even with Republicans in control of the upper chamber in the next Congress, which begins in January. Some then indicated that his decision to remove himself as the attorney general candidate was the right one.
"I think the decision to withdraw the nomination is the right decision to make," Sen. Mike Rounds, a South Dakota Republican, said. He continued: "I thought from the beginning, as I shared earlier, I thought it was problematic. And I think you know, as some of our members have expressed, as they've learned more about it, there was perhaps some information out there that the president was not aware of when he made the original recommendation."
GOP Sen. Kevin Cramer, of North Dakota, said he is "grateful" Gaetz withdrew, while Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, said "there were a lot of red flags."
"I think that he has put country first, and I'm pleased with his decision," she said.
It is the first major blow to Trump's efforts to fill his Cabinet and key administration posts for his second term in office. The president-elect's pick for secretary of defense, former Fox News host Pete Hegseth, is also under scrutiny after he was accused of sexually assaulting a woman in 2017. A police report provided details of the incident, which Hegseth said at the time was consensual. He has denied wrongdoing.
Trump's announcement of Gaetz as his pick for attorney general came just two days before the Ethics Committee was set to meet to discuss whether to release a report detailing its years-long investigation into the Florida Republican. Because he stepped down from his position in the House upon his selection to lead the Justice Department, the committee's jurisdiction over Gaetz ended, raising questions about whether the panel's report would be released.
The Ethics Committee did convene Wednesday and considered the report's release. But lawmakers said the panel, divided evenly between Democrats and Republicans, did not reach agreement. The committee planned to reconvene on Dec. 5 "to further consider this matter," Rep. Susan Wild, the top Democrat on the committee, told reporters after the initial meeting.
The Ethics Committee said in June that it was looking into allegations against Gaetz of sexual misconduct and drug use, accepting improper gifts and giving "special privileges and favors," and obstructing the investigations into his conduct. House investigators interviewed more than a dozen witnesses and issued 25 subpoenas, the committee said in a rare statement.
Multiple sources told CBS News at the time that four women told the committee that they had been paid to go to parties attended by Gaetz that included sex and drugs. A lawyer for two women who spoke with the panel told CBS News on Monday that they testified that Gaetz paid them directly and repeatedly for sex, and said Venmo transactions for the encounters were obtained by the Ethics Committee.
The attorney, Joel Leppard, also said the women told House investigators that Gaetz asked about "party favors" and "vitamins" at upcoming parties via text messages, which was understood to be code for drugs. One of Leppard's clients testified before the Ethics Committee that she witnessed Gaetz having sex with a 17-year-old against a game table during a July 2017 party, months after he was sworn in as a House member.
Leppard said following Gaetz's withdrawal that his "clients are relieved to have this chapter behind them and eager to move forward with their lives. We're hopeful this brings final closure for all parties involved."
Confirmation hearings for Gaetz before the Judiciary Committee would not have taken place until early next year, but Republican and Democratic senators have been pushing to see the Ethics Committee's report as they considered his nomination.
On Wednesday, 10 Democrats on the Judiciary Committee asked the FBI to turn over the full evidentiary file in the now-closed federal sex trafficking probe involving Gaetz.
GOP Rep. Michael Guest, chairman of the Ethics Committee, said Gaetz's decision to pull himself from consideration ends his panel's involvement.
"I think that this should end the discussion of whether or not the Ethics Committee should continue to move forward in this matter," he told reporters. "He has withdrawn his nomination. He is no longer a member of Congress, and so I think that this settles any involvement that the Ethics Committee should have in any matters involving Mr. Gaetz."
