Rep. Matt Gaetz Resigns From Congress After Attorney General Nomination
It’s possible Gaetz’s seat could be filled by January 3.
Rep. Matt Gaetz has resigned from Congress only hours after President-elect Donald Trump nominated him for attorney general.
Speaker Mike Johnson explained why Gaetz made the decision:
He issued his resignation letter, effective immediately, from Congress. That caught us by surprise a little bit. But I asked him what the reasoning was, and he said, “Well, you can’t have too many absences.”
So under Florida state law, there’s about an eight week period to select and fill in a vacant seat. And so by doing so today, that allows me, I’ve already placed a call to Governor DeSantis in Florida and said, “Let’s start the clock.” He’s in Italy at the moment, and so we’re going to talk first thing in the morning about this.
And if we start the clock now, if you do the math, we may be able to fill that seat as early as January 3, when we take the new oath of office for the new Congress.
So Matt would have done us a great service by making that decision as he did on the fly. And so we’re grateful for that. So we move forward.
Breaking News: Speaker Mike Johnson says Florida Congressman Matt #Gaetz has #resigned from Congress! pic.twitter.com/nOygJ6E9Va
— Chaskel Bennett (@ChaskelBennett) November 14, 2024
Now, I think we all know the Senate likely won’t confirm Gaetz.
However, as I wrote in my other piece, ethics investigations cease when the person retires, resigns, or loses re-election.
The House Ethics Committee has been investigating Gaetz since 2021. He allegedly engaged in “sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, shared inappropriate images or videos on the House floor, misused state identification records, converted campaign funds to personal use and accepted impermissible gifts under House rules.”
House Ethics Committee Chairman Michael Guest said that the inquiries will end if he’s confirmed as AG or resigns.
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Comments
Since Democratic heads are exploding, why not Laura Loomer?
Just kidding, but it will be interesting to see what DeSantis does here and with Rubio’s vacancy.
There’s nothing he can do here but call a special election as quickly as possible.
He gets to choose Rubio’s replacement, but Gaetz’s replacement is out of his hands.
What if something else is going on here?
-Trump nominates Gaetz.
-Gaetz accepts the nomination and resigns his House seat.
-A special election replacement for
Gaetz’s seat is secured by Jan 3.
-Gaetz doesn’t receive Senate confirmation.
Does Gaetz get confirmed by a recess appointment?
Thomas Massey thinks so and said it to the press yesterday I believe. Every President uses recess appointments. Thune has already said he respects Trumps right to use them
And, if Gaetz gets that in with a recess appointment, he can serve 2 years. If somehow he is stopped, Ken Paxton is waiting in the wings.
Sorry, I just saw your answer to my question down thread after I posted.
http://www.leg.state.fl.us/Statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&Search_String=&URL=0100-0199/0100/Sections/0100.101.html
I find it very strange that a special election must be held for a House seat but the Governor can just pick a Senator to serve out the remainder of a term.
A special election must be held for a senate seat too, but there’s no rush, since the constitution allows a state to empower its governor to make a temporary appointment, and most states have chosen to do that. And since there’s no rush to fill the seat, most states hold the special election at the next general election; the special election for Rubio’s seat will be in November 2026.
It makes perfect sense to allow a governor to appoint a temporary senator but not a temporary representative. The governor represents the same people as the senator does., and the same people who will vote to replace the senator, so it makes sense that he should get to choose who fills in. But the governor doesn’t represent the people in a House district.
Suppose Florida’s governor were a Democrat; he would appoint a Democrat to fill Rubio’s seat, and that’s OK, because he has a mandate from the same people. But how would it be if he could appoint a Democrat to replace Gaetz, in a district that is made up of Republicans? That would be a great wrong, and he has no mandate to do that. The voters of Gaetz’s district didn’t vote for him, don’t want him, and don’t want the Democrat he would foist on them.
Milhouse is correct. The Senate is supposed to rep the State so the solution for a vacancy is a temp appointment by the Gov. The HoR is closest to the People, 2 year term, direct election, so a special election to fill the vacancy makes sense. The.Founders set up a very good system IMO.
Milhouse is incorrect and obviously not read the link I put up. It mentions State Senators, Representatives and House members of Congress. It is silent on Congressional Senators.
The appointment of a US Senator by a FL Governor to fill a vacancy is not a full 6 year term. Instead that temp appointment is valid until the next statewide election. In this case that’s probably the midterms in ’26.
Rubio was re-elected in ’22 so his six year term began in Jan ’23 and lasts until Jan ’29. His appointed temp replacement will serve until the results of the special election to replace him are certified after the ’26 midterm. That’s not a normally scheduled election instead it is a ‘special election’.
The section of Florida Statute you cite is silent b/c the process to fill a vacancy in the US.Senate is covered under a different statute; 100.161:
‘…the Gov shall issue a writ of election to fill such vacancy at the next general election; and the Gov may make a temporary appointment until the vacancy is filled by election’
Hope that helps.
Diver64, the link you put up is about special elections held at random dates, as needed, and how they should be held. A special election that’s held simultaneously with a general election is much simpler logistically, and doesn’t need special legislation. It’s just one more office on the general election ballot.
“When vacancies happen in the representation of any state in the Senate, the executive authority of such state shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies: Provided, that the legislature of any state may empower the executive thereof to make temporary appointments until the people fill the vacancies by election as the legislature may direct.”
shared inappropriate images or videos on the House flooR
You mean like having anal sex in the Senate chambers and filming it?
It’s all BS to try to destroy a vocal MAGA supporter
Also, they’ve been “investigating” him since 2021. If they had anything, it would have been leaked long before now.
This is just too confusing really
Interesting angle about the ethics investigation I hadn’t considered. Still, I suspect it’s unlikely the worst parts of that investigation won’t leak prior to his confirmation hearing, if in fact there are indeed ‘worst parts.’ For better or worse, Gaetz has made enemies on both sides of the aisle and may end up getting shived by both sides of the aisle. A big winner in this could be Johnson, when you think about it (presuming DeSantis can get special election scheduled before new Congress is sworn in. Gaetz represents a DEEP red district).
Is this some bizarre reward from DJT to Gaetz in return for his supoort to be nominated for AG, which Gaetz uses as cover to resign his house seat, insist he is all in on becoming AG and maybe provides enough time for special election to help Speaker Johnson hold the house majority and by the way conveniently end the ethics investigation whether his nomination is successful or not.
Then if things leak about the ethics investigation Speaker Johnson has leverage to bring down the hammer on some staffer or member which throws red meat to the base and help Johnson demonstrate he can be ruthless when he wishes to be…and removes Gaetz from being a pain in his ass.
Seems awfully convoluted even to me and I spit balled it but I don’t see anything else to explain it.
If he had wanted out of the House he could simply not have run. It’s not like any of this is new.
Agreed. Like I.stated, the reasoning I set up to try and explain it seems awfully convoluted…Yet why else would Gaetz immediately resign his seat? That’s the piece that needs to be accounted for.
I have no idea what’s going on. Up until recently – just a few hours ago – the conventional wisdom was Gaetz was going to run for Governor in 2028 as DeSantis is term-limited. This ethics investigation has been going on forever, literally years. Gaetz had to know that shoe was eventually going to drop. But, ethics investigations rarely result in expulsion or even censure; few in the House’s history have been expelled or censured)…because let’s be honest, they’re ALL unethical to some degree (see: rampant insider trading). You generally have to get convicted of something to get thrown out.
I really don’t see why he would feel compelled to resign much less go through some elaborate scheme to cover that resignation. Maybe there’s something going on no one but a few are privy to. Or, maybe Trump just wants Gaetz at AG to burn the place to the ground and Trump simply refuses to believe they’ll be an issue getting him confirmed. IDK.
His immediate resignation doesn’t really make sense in isolation.
Seems awfully convoluted
Oof. Your first paragraph is one sentence, so yeah.
/eyes crossed/
But it wouldn’t surprise me.
Eff punctuation, that’s for sissy boys /S?
My English teachers, history teachers and every other course which required essays in HS or College took me to task for run on sentences. My brain seems to produce lengthy, loquacious sentences sometimes as a soliloquy often with inopportune alliteration. Eff it I’m not seeking a career as writer, editor or publisher .. which is a.good thing given that I lack the temperament.
Anyone proMAGA will be shivved by the UniParty. There is no “aisle”, no difference worth noting between the parties here.
I think there may be an under-appreciation here for how disliked like Matt Gaetz is, even by some of the most die-hard conservative legislators on the Hill. The guy is absolutely hated. If the confirmation process was done by secret ballot, Gaetz may not get more than a handful of ayes.
I think he’s a showboating fool, even if he supports DJT. Plenty of better choices were passed over.
Whatever else is true about the Gaetz nomination it is also true that it is ‘drawing fire’ away from other nominees, at least for now.
Fetterman: God-tier level trolling to own the libs. https://x.com/bennyjohnson/status/1856847706561400910
He’s not wrong.
Well… you think Levine, Buttigeig, Raimondo, Granholm, and Mayorkas weren’t Biden trolling?
You’re assuming they were Biden appointments to begin with. Big call?
You forgot that idiot at the Dept of Interior.
Deb Haaland… yeah, she is not overly intelligent.
Gaetz as AG is a yuge FU to the politically-motivated attack on Trump.
Someone explain the 3-D chess going on in which President Trump nominates, as AG, someone with an ‘ethics’ investigation in the House, who may not be confirmed.
Professional courtesy. The president-elect, after all, is a “convicted felon.”
Many of the Republicans who are “shocked” at the nomination of Gaetz had no problem confirming Merrick Garland.
McConnell said on the Senate floor that Garland should be confirmed “because of his long reputation as a straight shooter.”
Garland was confirmed by a vote of 70-30.
Nomination does not equal confirmation. Resignation seems a bit rash. What”s really going on here??
I’m inclined to believe Gaetz’s explanation — resigning now gets his successor in place before Inauguration Day, and removes the chances of his being censured for absenteeism.
Trump will get Gaetz through, either by the normal process or by recess appointment. It will be done.
So, Gaetz is going to serve as AG for 6-months? And then what?
And then he’ll go through normal confirmation.
Not six months. Even if it takes until summer to find time for a recess (and it really shouldn’t) he’d be in for 18 months. And really if they need a recess they can probably fit one in around Easter. But there’s certainly no prospect of one happening any time soon.
Recess appointments last until the end of the legislative session. Every Congress (we’re in the 118th headed to the 119th) has two legislative sessions that each begin in January (usually begin on January 3rd after being adjourned sometime before Christmas). So, if a president appoints someone during the Christmas recess (which has traditionally been when most recess appointments are made), that person can effectively serve the whole coming year. But, the next adjournment after the new session begins in January won’t be until summer, usually July.
A lot of people get confused by this.
No, recess appointments last until the end of the next session. Assuming they can be made during a session at all (which the majority in Canning said they can be), they last the rest of that session, and the whole of the next session.
So, again assuming it’s constitutional to appoint Gaetz the next time the Senate takes an extended break (the Canning majority suggests that ten days ought to be sufficient), he would serve until Jan 3, 2027.
Can you say Senator Getz?
There’s a better chance Gaetz gets confirmed by the Senate than there is of DeSantis appointing him to the Senate….and there’s little chance Gaetz is getting confirmed.
I don’t believe that Trump really intends for Gaetz to be AG. There is something afoot here. I also do not think Hegseth will be SecDef. He is certainly an honorable man and well-educated, but the US defense department is larger and worth more money than many countries. The managerial skills alone would eliminate most successful people. This a very complex job and as we have seen, Austin was not up to it. I love thinking outside of the box but this a reach too far.
So… is this Trump’s way of showing his contempt for the DOJ?
The DoJ does indeed need a thorough cleansing!
Trump nominates Thune to be ambassador to England. Thune accepts, resigns and head across the pond.
Trump fires Thune a week later.
I dont think even Trump is that vindictive?
The Republicans won’t confirm Gaetz but will leave Biden in the White House?
They can’t do anything about his stay in the White House. Even if they wanted to install Harris (why?) they can’t.
Gaetz is definitely being confirmed. The Tangerine Messiah already ended Hillary, Biden, and Kamala’s career. You don’t think he is more willing to take a few more scalps if the swamp donkeys try and get in the way?
Just a thought, but swamp creatures that get in the way of confirmations could find themselves on the wrong side of an appointment the newly created department of government efficiancy. Just saying. As they say on the streets, eff around and find out!
The “department” will have no subpoena power, and in any case there are no recommendations it can make about senators. Or about any congressional employees.
Yawn. They chop the senators gravy train. Game, set, match.
They can’t do that. They are nothing but outsiders advisers to the president, who will make recommendations to him on major cost-saving steps he can take in the executive branch. The president has no say on Congress’s budget or on how it spends it.
I agree with your point on the spending aspect. The recent Supreme
court ruling that the President has absolute authority over the executive branch becomes an interesting part of the equation. With DOGE he may try and make whole departments disappear. Not the agency that the money was appropriated too, just individual departments within the agency. Wholly within his power as the Executive. Gaetz is the shiny object.
I think both Gaetz and Trump know he will have a very hard time getting through the Senate but he might. If not then the ethic investigation stops and Trump can give him a role in his Administration which might be the plan all along.
Then why not skip the senate and go directly to a White House role?
And again, if Gaetz’s primary concern were to end the “ethics” investigation, and especially if this whole appointment is intended simply to give him an excuse to resign and end the probe, then why did he file for reelection in the first place? He could have let his term expire on Jan 3, and the investigation would be gone.
In fact I think this “investigation” has been going on for years, probably since before the last election, so if he were interested in stopping it he could have not sought reelection in 2022.