(AFP) – Right-wing firebrand Matt Gaetz on Thursday pulled out of the confirmation process to become US attorney general, pitching Donald Trump’s incoming administration into fresh turmoil. Trump had picked loyalist Gaetz for the top legal position, but his candidacy was embroiled in allegations of sexual misconduct and lacked support from his own Republican Party.
Gaetz was one of Trump’s several eye-catching selections, including Fox News host Pete Hegseth as defense secretary, vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as health secretary, and billionaire Elon Musk to head a government cost-cutting unit. A congressional panel had been investigating alleged illegal activity by Gaetz, including sexual contact with a 17-year-old girl — which he denies — as well as drug use and misappropriating campaign funds. He faced an uphill battle to win confirmation in the Senate, as Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance chose their team ahead of moving into the White House on January 20.
“I had excellent meetings with Senators yesterday,” Gaetz said on X. “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, 42, was first elected to the House of Representatives in 2016 and won reelection recently, but he resigned as a congressman shortly after Trump picked him to be attorney general. “Matt has a wonderful future, and I look forward to watching all of the great things he will do,” Trump said in response to his withdrawal.
The ethics probe into Gaetz, a deeply polarizing Florida congressman, was effectively ended after he resigned from the House. As a staunch Trump ally, Gaetz — if appointed as attorney general — could have dropped multiple criminal cases against the former president. Gaetz is known as a disruptor who earned the enmity of some House colleagues, including by engineering the ouster of fellow Republican Kevin McCarthy as speaker last year.
The latest transition upheaval came as new lurid details emerged about Defense nominee Hegseth. He was investigated for sexual assault after a complaint from an unnamed woman at a 2017 conference in California. The New York Times reported details from the police investigation, which was closed without Hegseth being charged. The married woman told officers that she suffered from memory loss and thought her drink might have been spiked, while Hegseth said the encounter was consensual.
– Ben Sheppard
© 2024 AFP
