Matt Gaetz Does Not ‘Intend to Join the 119th Congress’
“And so I’m going to be fighting for President Trump. I’m going to be doing whatever he asks of me, as I always have, but I think that eight years is probably enough time in the United States Congress.”
Former Rep. Matt Gaetz told Charlie Kirk he won’t return to Congress. He resigned when President-elect Donald Trump nominated him for attorney general.
But Gaetz withdrew on Thursday.
From the interview:
KIRK: So, Matt, I now have to ask about just what your plans are, and it’s okay. If. You have to punt on it because you might not know. It’s important to know you. Resigned from this Congress, not the next Congress. Our audience is 100% behind Matt Gates by the way. They are very, very upset that. You are not able to get all the way to attorney general, I have to ask, what is next for Matt gates.
GAETZ: I’m still going to be in the fight, but it’s going to be from a new perch. I do not intend to join the 119th Congress.
There are a number of fantastic Floridians who’ve stepped up to run for my seat, people who have inspired with their heroism, with their public service, and I’m actually excited to see northwest Florida go to new heights and have great representation.
Charles, I’ve been in an elected office for 14 years. I first got elected to the state house when I was 26 years old, and I’m 42 now. And I’ve got some other goals in life that I’m eager to pursue my wife and my family.
And so I’m going to be fighting for President Trump. I’m going to be doing whatever he asks of me, as I always have, but I think that eight years is probably enough time in the United States Congress. In Florida, our voters got to vote on term limits for state government, and the campaign was eight is enough. And so you can only do eight years in the Florida House of Representatives, and so it seems like a pretty poetic time to allow that. Great new blood to come in to allow my district to have high quality representation and don’t worry. I’m not going anywhere. I’m not taking off for a tropical excursion.
For the rest of my life, I am here to. Help save this country. And one thing, you know the great patriots at Turning Point, we need people at every level. We need brilliant lawyers on the outside. We need tough congressmen and congresswomen on the inside.
We need a leadership structure under President Trump that’s going to allow for durability of our movement and the ability to continue this great realignment of our politics. And so I’ll play a part in that. I plan to be a big voice, but maybe not as an elected member of the government.
JUST IN: Matt Gaetz tells Charlie Kirk that he does *not* intend on joining the 119th Congress, hints he has other plans "from a new perch."
The statement comes after Gaetz withdrew his name from the AG nomination.
"I'm still going to be in the fight, but it's going to be from… pic.twitter.com/CU7ipJvSWl
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) November 22, 2024
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Comments
It’s a good time to remind people that ‘devout Christian men” who sleep with strange women they aren’t married to… might not be so devout. A tattoo doesn’t make one a better Christian (Mr Hegseth)
And it doesn’t make you better than anyone else
We all sin, even you
Ijit
I am going to have to push back
1. Yes he did adultery and purchased silence.
2. A common sin is not something I or anybody else cares about.
3. We are hiring a man who is qualified for the job.
I wish everyone was perfect at all times, but Pete Hegseth is a good pick and I hope there isn’t anything more than him sleeping around because he will be good for the Pentagon.
I thought our political system became inoculated against bimbo eruptions back in the 90’s when Clinton was president. So why is this an issue now?
different rules for republicans
No idea who you are talking about. Your Pastor?
I.wasn’t aware that Hegseth asserted that a tattoo made him a superior Christian. Got a quote for that? If not then this appears to be more neocon ranting in frustration that the DoD will not be run by the establishment committed to more forever war adventurism in service of maintaining the globalist agenda with the US military as world police.
King David was “a man after God’s own heart”. 1 Samuel 13:14
What does devout Christian men have to do with Gaetz?
TBH I have no idea what Gaetz is doing. If you were going to tuck your tail and run at even basic pushback, why would you resign your seat in advance? You HAD to know that the RINOs were never going to confirm you, so how were you unprepared and quit so fast?
The whole sequence of events is just downright weird.
I don’t think he willingly did, I’m afraid Pressure from Trumps team
What happened to fight fight fight
Gaetz nomination was gonna be very uphill even without the allegations in the ethics committee. Good leaders understand that sometimes you cut your loses in one area to focus on reinforcing success not throwing more resources at failure.
IMO this was always more of sending a message to DC establishment that times were changing than a serious nomination. FWIW I don’t believe we should hold this against DJT and I say that as someone who, as you know, hasn’t been hesitant to criticize DJT.
One d chess
It’s all pretty obvious. He resigned to foreclose the Ethics Committee’s report from being released. He was likely going to resign with or without the nomination. Trump, the very loyal person he is, threw Gaetz a potential lifeline with the nomination, probably with the caveat that Gaetz was going to have to go through normal order to get the job. When it became clear there were no less than 4 GOP Senators who, early on, signaled they were a hard ‘no’ on Gaetz, Trump told him that was it.
Gaetz obviously believes he can’t go back to Congress because if he does, the report would be released and that would be the end of his political career. Whether that’s true or not is unknown and unknowable without seeing the contents of that report. But, it’s clear he believes it because that’s the ONLY thing that explains his incredibly bizarre immediate resignation. Sometimes things are as they seem.
Exactly. And Trump and his supporters should be glad that Gaetz is leaving the scene. He was an albatross around Trump’s neck and the Republican Party.
Hard to see how these “accusations” were going to make Gaetz an “albatross” when even the Biden DOJ or FBI couldn’t manage to make it prosecutable.
Now all the Dems have is persecutable.
You might want to read Molly Hemingway on the subject over at the Federalist.
https://thefederalist.com/2024/11/17/house-probe-into-matt-gaetz-relies-on-witnesses-doj-found-lacked-credibility/
even more background
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1859748387291107797.html
I may have been born at night. But, it wasn’t last night. Whatever is in that ethics report, Gaetz believes it’s damaging enough that his best, only course of action was to resign immediately from the House and not sit for the seat he just won in the upcoming House in order to prevent its release. There is ZERO need to reflexively defend someone just because there may be some mutual political alignment with that person. Gaetz’s behavior surrounding the highly unusual departure speaks for itself. That report terrifies him.
He did not turn tail and run Trump decided he wanted a qualified professional who will be winning cases in court and doing a good job at the role of AG and offered Gaetz either you could declare you are not accepting the nomination or we will withdraw it.
Pam Bondi is a good choice who has the total respect of everyone she has ever worked with, a long distinguished legal career and having never made a single Republican enemy.
Matt Gaetz has as his claim to fame that he almost gave the Democrats the house after 2022, and that despite having been an elected politician since 2010 (so a career politician) he hasn’t a single ally anywhere (the closest he ever got claimed he invited him to orgies).
I suspect there’s all sorts of secret sexual encounters in and among DC establishment. Heck there’s a Congressional slush fund to pay out to accusers in return for NDA. Then there’s the pressure once of odds ducks like fiercely heterosexual Cory Booker and confirmed bachelor Lindsey Graham who don’t show up in public with ‘significant others’. Why these folks won’t be honest is beyond me, it’s 2024 not 1924 but their choice not to and our choice to comment.
Lets go ahead and release everyone from those NDAs and see just who has been accused of what and then paid in secret with taxpayer funds. Unless of course those jumping up and down about unfounded sexual accusations are engaging in situational ethics.
Let’s bust that scam wide open!! If we are paying for it, we deserve to know what it is doing, and who it is paying for.
He resigned so that the ethics committee report would become moot, and never be released
Gov is my guesss
I don’t know exacty wht role Gaetz will play, but Acting AG then when Bondi is confirmed he will become her chief of staff,
He can’t be acting AG. To be an ‘acting’ officer, you first need to have been confirmed to one of that officer’s subordinate positions. So, in this instance, to be An ‘Acting AG,’ you would need to be one of the three or four (or however many there are now) Deputy AGs. Deputy AG is also a position that requires Senate confirmation. This is why it’s not uncommon for outgoing members of the former Administration to stay in their roles for a few days/few weeks after Inauguration Day and until the incoming Cabinet Secretaries all get confirmed. They’re they “Acting” Cabinet Secretary and are the only ones who can be the acting Cabinet Secretary because they’ve been previously confirmed to a qualifying position.
I don’t think you have to have been confirmed to a position subordinate to the one you’re now being temporarily appointed to. You just have to have been confirmed to something. So not only Deputy AGs can act as AG; someone confirmed as a Deputy Secretary of Labor or as a US ambassador could do it.
That ie my understanding as well. See Mick Mulvaney in the last Trump admin.
Another career politician who has not achieved anything for anybody besides himself goes.
Don’t let the door hit you on the way out Mr. Gaetz.
It makes you wonder if the whole Gaetz for AG thing wasn’t merely a giant troll to make leftists’ heads explode in order to set up a more reasonable alternative who will get approved as a sigh of relief.
That 100% + he needed an out. This paved the way.
To suggest he and/or they have no plan is naive.
He didn’t say he would not pursue the open Senate seat.
Your lack of merit tells us Gaetz has merit.
This was posted to the wrong comment, Sorry
Gaetz may follow in the footsteps of Chaffetz, Duffy and Gowdy for awhile.
None of you play chess.
I believe it was Sean Trende from Real Clear Politics who said about this, ‘This is more Hungry, Hungry Hippos than it is chess.’
Here is my thought, which won’t even get you a cup of coffee if you put 5 bucks with it.
This was all a game by Trump. announce the nomination of Gaetz, let everyone get up in arms and freaking out, then have him step aside so he can get the person he actually wanted. Trump has done the same thing his entire political career.
I object to claims of sexual misconduct without any tangible evidence being given any credence. I also think that demand for payouts under those circumstances are should be prosecuted.