Matt Gaetz Withdraws as Trump’s Pick for Attorney General
“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.”
Former Congressman Matt Gaetz has withdrawn as President-elect Donald Trump’s attorney general pick:
I had excellent meetings with Senators yesterday. I appreciate their thoughtful feedback – and the incredible support of so many. 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. 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.
I remain fully committed to see that Donald J. Trump is the most successful President in history. I will forever be honored that President Trump nominated me to lead the Department of Justice and I’m certain he will Save America.
House Democrats still want to release the Ethics Committee report on Gaetz regarding allegation of using drugs and having sexual relations with a minor while serving as a congressman.
“While I welcome the news that Matt Gaetz is withdrawing from consideration for Attorney General, it remains important that the Gaetz report be made available to the American people,” Said Rep. Sean Casten (D-IL).
I had excellent meetings with Senators yesterday. I appreciate their thoughtful feedback – and the incredible support of so many. While the momentum was strong, it is clear that my confirmation was unfairly becoming a distraction to the critical work of the Trump/Vance…
— Matt Gaetz (@mattgaetz) November 21, 2024
Trump responded:
TRUTH from President Trump on Matt Gaetz: pic.twitter.com/hMLI1rQuOz
— Karoline Leavitt (@karolineleavitt) November 21, 2024
Matt Gaetz has officially revealed he’s stepping aside as a contender for Donald Trump’s Attorney General.
This announcement comes after Gaetz fiercely battled against relentless media attacks and defamation campaigns.
This is a sad day for those who hoped for the hammer of… pic.twitter.com/5LuOjyGQEV
— Shadow of Ezra (@ShadowofEzra) November 21, 2024
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Comments
DeSantis should appoint him to the Senate
It’s not going to happen. Trump wants Laura, his daughter-in-law, in Rubio’s seat.
The interesting issue is that Gaetz resigned from his current House seat, but was re-elected. (He could not resign from the new one.) Could he now plan to take the seat to which he was elected in January and would that suspend efforts by DeSantis to fill a supposed vacancy?
Don’t know how the calculation would work for Gaetz but he will lose some House seniority status if he does this. I’d rather have him in the Senate (well I’d have rather had him as AG but what can you do?)
I’m still waiting for the political sites to come up with this observation and see what the arguments for and against are. Interesting question. He resigned from his current seat not the one he just won so….maybe? Moot if DeSantis appoints him to Rubio’s Senate Seat but there is no love lost I think between the two although I don’t think they are enemies. I wonder if there are behind the scenes conversations between Trump and DeSantis on just those questions.
From the way Gaetz took it to people in DC while Congressman I doubt he would just resign
unless something was waiting for him.
“”There is no time to waste on a needlessly protracted Washington scuffle””
Wow. Talk about tone deaf. Most of Trump’s picks look great, but this was a clank from the start.
I wouldn’t trust you to spay a cat…
I wouldn’t either. That’s why I use a veterinarian.
Is that a regional saying because it makes no sense otherwise.
Only to libtards and nevertrumper RINOs. Feel free to opt into which of these you are. Maybe both, by appearances.
He expressed an opinion and you jump in and assign to him something he may not actually be.
You sound like one of those raving leftists that start accusations with “So…” and come out with some accusation not found in evidence. Do you also have eyebrow piercings and a man-bun?
Neither. Never have been. Trump, however, is a RINO, as are you, and in fact so are most of the Trump cult. You’re mostly Libertarian or retread Democrats, as is Trump.
Uh oh, everyone behave. The One True Republican™ is here to tell us about ourselves.
Never claimed that, either, but the vast majority of Republicans aren’t part of your cult.
Goeth. Intercourse thyself
Right back atcha.
Someone not taking the election loss well 😂😂😂
Wrong guess. I have nothing against Trump, although I don’t always agree with him, including this nomination. I voted for him 4 times, including this month. My problem is with you braindead cultists who call the same people both RINOs and GOPe in the same breath without the slightest awareness of how stupid that is. Fwiw, I’m neither. I’m a proud independent, and I’ve been conservative since before your Mommy and Daddy were born.
I don’t fit any of your categories and I wasn’t happy with that nomination either. I don’t want a man who had girlfriends who were still teenagers when he was in his 30s as our AG.
OK, chutzpah. It looks like the cult has already forgotten that he blew up the House with malice aforethought and kept it from doing business just to satisfy his overblown ego. (It’s funny that the “conservative” cult has had so little to say about Johnson’s move to the left.) Gaetz made too many enemies, and was an unforced error by Trump, and an exception to his otheerwise excellent choices.
Obviously the conversations with senators didn’t go well. Perhaps it was merely a trolling choice in the first place, a sacrificial lamb. Get Gaetz out of the House investigation, troll the left, let them recognize that as the worst pick of them all so far, then he removes himself as the other choices all look more acceptable… Idk. I don’t think they’re that sophisticated. But I wouldn’t underestimate DJT.
Trump ran for President 3 times and in an above post you state you voted for him 4 times. Why should people take the opinion of a law breaker seriously?
God, I hate it when I have to respond to idiots. Primaries, you fool. One primary, three general.
A sobering reminder that Communist smear campaigns still work, and that Franz von Papen Republicans such as Cornyn still eagerly lick the Communists’ jackboots.
https://www.newsweek.com/matt-gaetz-embarrassment-donald-trump-john-cornyn-1986077
Know who your friends are and keep a long hard eye on those who let slip aren’t your ally.
@GenFlynn to replace would be proper retribution
I believe he was already confirmed by the senate, I recall someone positing that obviates senate confirmation
Reply if you know.
A moot point since Thune is working for the other side and would never permit it.
If senate confirmation is not required Thune has no say
RTFQ
If Trump were to try it Thune and his BFF Schumer could easily find a Biden* or Bush judge to prevent it as being unconstitutional or illegal or causing global warming or something. No “No Standing To Sue” for the Uniparty!
If prior confirmation obviates the process, they get no say
While battles still rage, the republic fails if we don’t make permanent changes to the letter agencies .
Whether we’re consciously aware, we’re in a fight to the death of either the Republic or its Marxist infiltration
Unfortunately, that’s not the case. For instance, if an AG drops dead, the Deputy AG could assume the role as ‘acting’ for a period of time (I think 210-days, but am not certain). But, that Deputy – if nominated to be permanent replacement AG by POTUS – would still have to be confirmed even though he/she was confirmed by the Senate for the Deputy position.
I do remember a heated discussion about that. But I think the end result was “Nice try, but it won’t fly.”
Hopefully Professor Jacobson is waiting close by his phone for a call from #47.
There done now the Democrats have nothing to complain about right
True to form a Republican caves. Whose next to wimp out because he can’t take the heat? Is this how the Trump agenda dies? Pick them off one by one. What happened to a recess appointment? Truman said: “If you can’t take the heat stay out of the kitchen.” Well obviously Gaetz can’t take the heat. Democrats don’t generally cave, do they? They will defy public opinion, the law, even direct court orders. They don’t give in, they fight until they get what they want. We have RINOs but no DINOs. Their people know better. They know they could end up dead if they go rogue. This is a sorry day.
Hegseth may be in trouble if the NY Times reporting of the alleged rape case on which he made a payment when sued is believable. The NYT reporting looked like it came from some official records and, to me, read very badly. But then it is the NY Times.
I keep wondering why Grenell has not been appointed to anything. IMO he would have been better for DNI (a job he already had) than Gabbard. Perhaps FBI?
Previous reporting was that there were no charges or an arrest by the police
….beside, the Dems twice support an alleged serial rapist for president, so how could they object?
And a child molester, but who’s counting?
Looks like somebody hasn’t heard that Biden used to shower with his daughter………
Meh, settlements are made all the time. If we gonna paint as guilty due to a civil case settlement …there ain’t enough brushes.
Having sex with an 18 year old isn’t against the law.
And the number of people who are not police officers who care about that amount to exactly 0.
You are aware most Republican voters are elderly and it is against the party interests to alienate them to get someone they view as disgusting confirmed in a post he isn’t qualified for right?
But Fuck winning we could all worship at “MUUUHHHHHH ETSBLISHMENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
Thank god Trump isn’t whatever the F MAGA means, we need someone sane like Trump not utterly bonkers.
Maybe if you folks read the reported details you would not be so cavalier about it – https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/17/us/politics/hegseth-sexual-assault-accuser.html
… a woman there with her husband and 2 children who only got involved because “Mr. Hegseth was with two women at a bar after his speech when Jane received a text from the women saying that Mr. Hegseth was getting pushy about taking them upstairs to his room” … “hazy memories” … “She went to a hospital and was tested with a rape kit, which revealed the presence of semen” … “the complainant had bruises to her thigh.”
NY Times huh that’s an interestingly partisan rag yet no arrest, no indictment, no conviction. Innocent until PROVEN guilty.
That is because sex with 18 year old girls is perfectly legal.
What is relevant is if you go around 70+ year old prople (a.k.a. the base of our party) and ask if you think that is ok or if they want someone who is not a lawyer, has no qualifications whatsoever but who has sex with 18 year old girls to be their AG.
Trump has grown in ways that are truly impressive and I grow to like this new Trump more and more by the day.
Danny,
Gaetz got his JD from William and Mary and practiced law before becoming a Congressman.
The base ain’t 70+. In fact Gen X born ’66-’80 went higher % for DJT than any other generation including boomers/silent gen. The base is now way more populist, working class, blue collar with higher levels of black, asian and hispanic support than the mythology of old white country club folks.
18 is an adult. Can vote, sign a contract, buy a house or car, join the military. If the folks you speak of don’t believe 18 year old adults can/should choose what other adults to have consensual sex with make the case and get the age of.consent and age of legal adulthood altered…but stop with the pearl clutching and SIGN language tactics. Shame, insults, guilt don’t work anymore to deter.
The security footage shows her smiling and chatting while holding his arm and taking him up to his room. People interviewed said she was coherent and not intoxicated that night and the following morning while he was described as being pretty well trashed. She spent the night with him as married woman with two kids and I believe she panicked in the morning and had to find a way out of the situation she created. This was at the height of the me too movement where it was trendy for women to claim sexual assault.
Don’t be a gullible fool
Hegseth was drunk and she was not. If anything, she should be charged with sexual assault as he was not in any condition to consent so there is that.
Yes yes yes cave to those horrible evil probably hitler inspired stalin worshipping establishment who want a competent person in one of the most important posts in the country and are worried by the idea of a middle aged man having sex with teenagers truly the horror those scumbags being concerned about competence and the desires of their voters how horrible
That horrible no good orange man who is orange bad and horrible has to be impeached for turning on MAGA and deciding that a bad idea he had was a bad idea and for going for a competent pick instead of an asshole.
That horrible evil orange man how dare he want a competent lawyer as an AG. How dare he desire an AG who could win in court THE HORROR HOW DARE HE WANT MAJOR COURT CASES TO GO HIS WAY INSTEAD OF HAVING A NON LAWYERS AS AG THE SCOUNDREL!!!!!!!!!!!
Thank god that whatever the internet has determined “MAGA” means Trump isn’t part of it, I like the sane and reasonable Trump who is working to pass an agenda not for Matt Gaetz.
This might have been the plan all along (from Gaetz’ angle, anyway).
This does open up some air for another rope-a-dope from Trump, though.
How about Alan Dershowitz? /ducking
See this coming a mile away. No surprise..
Maybe Trump can create a new position for him- Attorney Privates.
Another “This is not the hill to fight and die on so let’s curl up in a corner whimpering” moment for the GOP Congressional leadership. There have been quite a few of those in the past half century.
Exactly. Now, they’ll do the same to the other “controversial” nominees and signal that they’ll only confirm someone that won’t threaten the status quo.
The linked article has the 20 GOP Senators that found the current AG palatable and voted to confirm. Many of the same losers have concerns about Gaetz though.
https://www.dailysignal.com/2024/11/18/republicans-who-voted-for-merrick-garland-as-ag-complain-about-matt-gaetz-trumps-choice/
They voted for him context of him being perceived as a moderate who would be an alternative to an AG who is what MG turned out to be.
Their votes weren’t needed to confirm him (did you know Democrats had the senate majority?) but they thought it would be a better AG than Biden alternatives.
Saying they had no problem with him is an utter lie.
You also know dam well you are lying.
To quote Gaetz himself
“I am so sorry for you being in mourning for the death of a friends political career”
Voting for someone signals support for that someone, you fool. But, you’re a quisling for the Uniparty cowards, so you make excuses, as usual.
Also, I said that they found a communist weasel like Garland more palatable. Whatever problems the GOP losers had with him, it wasn’t enough to vote no. Maybe try comprehending the post you respond to, Danny.
I’m thinking that Gaetz realized he would be asked if he ever had sex with an underaged person and questions such as that with knowing what kind of evidence the Dems might have against him. They have undoubtedly been spending tons of money investigating him.
More likely Trump came to his senses and asked him if he would like to pretend to withdraw or if he would like Trump to announce it is withdrawn by Trump.
Good for Trump by the way it takes a great man to realize he made a mistake.
The problem with line of questioning in DC is the number of Senators and Congressman who have also had settlements made. Some paid via a special fund for the purpose. Then there’s the folks such as Sen Lindsey Graham and Sen Cory Booker who both seem to be ….’confirmed bachelors’. I suspect there’s all sorts of questions about sexual encounters that DC doesn’t want brought to light. Though, now that this is an issue to slam Gaetz and attempted with Hegseth…. perhaps the best thing is to bring all those publicly financed settlements to light of day so the public can see how their $ was spent.
It did serve to identify the senators who could not be counted on to support the MAGA agenda and the house members who wouldn’t support Trump nominees, either. And he can still take the seat to which he was just reelected come January 3rd, or he could also reasonably be appointed to fill out Rubio’s soon-to-be-vacant seat in the senate.
Probably the latter. Going back to the House would permit the (official) release of the ethics committee investigation. If he’s appointed to the Senate, the House would have no jurisdiction over him. (My time in a LE agency informs me of this. An employee could quit during an ongoing investigation, at which time the investigation would be suspended. But if the employee returned to the agency, the investigation could be re-activated.)
Besides, appointing him to the Senate would give Gaetz a bigger voice, being one out of 100, rather than one out of 435.
Admitting that you think that the report must be very damaging. If that’s the case, there’s no chance that it wouldn’t have leaked if he’d accepted the nomination. The odds of him getting through confirmation, or even the approval of the Judiciary Committee was already in doubt last week, as was reported virtually on the heels of the nomination, and if you’re right, the ethics report would have sealed the deal.
I’m admitting no such thing. I’m saying Gaetz has reason to avoid going back to the House while DeSantis (and the party in general) has an interest in putting a known firebrand into a position where his platform gives him relatively more power.
As far as the report goes, it’s as yellow or as clear as the committee decided to make it. But it won’t necessarily be the truth nor reflect reality. It was conducted as a political exercise with the purpose of finding dirt. Certainly, it may have found some. But I’m over having Republicans removed from office (or consideration for office) for offenses that the Dems sneeze at when found in their own candidates. I just don’t care. (And no, I don’t care about his morals or if he is a criminal. As I’ve said before, “I’ll vote for a criminal who loves America before I’ll vote for a saint who hates America.” Loving America and having ideas I believe will be for her betterment are two of only three criteria I have for a candidate to get my vote. Indeed, I’ve refused to vote for people who I thought hated America and/or would be bad for her, and they were all Republicans. And no, again, I don’t vote for the lesser of two evils. “Those who choose the lesser evil forget very quickly that they choose evil.” – Hannah Arendt)
Go around and ask people you know if they know their state AG has been having sex with 19 year olds and ask how they feel about that.
That is how damaging the report would have been.
I owe Matt Gaetz nothing.
There are wonderful qualified candidates without scandal available for the role of AG. Trump does not need Matt Gaetz, and neither does anyone else Matt Gaetz having fought on the Democrat side in congress from 2022-2024.
Even Biden’s biased DOJ investigated and found no reason to file charges. You have to know that they would have if there was even the illusion of something they could use to even smear him with.
Yes fuck competence, fuck running the DOJ in a good way, fuck getting any conservative agenda through we all need to go worship Matt Gaetz and have our head up his ass as he craps…..
Or alternatively a competent person who works well with human beings not himself is what the Republicans in the senate wanted and Trump realized he made a mistake making him a much bigger man than you.
I’m fine with the withdrawal. The message has been sent. The Democrats won’t be able to
shoot downall of the nominees.They will try!
Trump should put up someone equally as “rude” to be AG. If his pick is rejected, he should say “OK, I’m going to run DOJ myself, as I am authorized to do by Article II of the Constitution. Matt Gaetz will be my liaison with the DOJ, and will make regular reports to me, advising my decision-making in DOJ matters. He will have a delegation of authority to perform all ministerial/administrative actions at DOJ.”
Of course, Trump could just do this, rather than nominate anyone else for the position. There’s nothing in the Constitution saying that cabinet-level vacancies must be filled, and nothing preventing Trump from withdrawing his delegation of authority to any agency and taking the reins himself. Article II vests the POTUS with the federal government’s executive authority, to the exclusion of anyone or anything else. Agency chiefs merely exercise authority delegated to them by POTUS. There is no requirement for such middle-men.
He could also add, “And if there’s no official head to the agency that you will confirm, then am I right in not spending any of that budget on it? I can shut it down, right?”
It might not be cricket to do but it would be effective in pointing out where Republicans should direct fire.
I’m not sure he could. Is the spending of money budgeted/authorized by Congress discretionary? Certainly, there are some earmarks that require if the money is spent it must be spent on certain things, but does even earmarking require spending?
What he could do is withdraw the delegations of authority that allow every executive employee, section, office, and agency to conduct the business of the federal government. He could be as selective as he wanted to be to act with precision to shut down only problem offices. He could target specific employees. The employees affected by such withdrawals of authority may still have their jobs and may still get paid, but they wouldn’t be able to lift a finger in the name of the POTUS. Merely accessing a government network to try may be a crime. When the citizenry sees how the government can get by without those affected employees/sections/offices/agencies, then Congress can be hounded to cut off the money.
Hear, hear!
Yes he should totally insult the senators he needs to actually govern he shouldn’t try to push through a conservative agenda, he should dedicate himself to a stupid petty man and should dedicate himself to status quo without doing anything positive with the White House, everything that happens should be a bloody fight over nothing with no principles…that disgusts voters and leaves everything as it is now……
Or he could ignore jackasses suggesting he deliberately leave no AG on grounds that a jackass named Matt Gaetz was rightly rejected.
Reports are that the opposing Senate scum are:
Collins, Murkowski – no surprises here
along with traitorus dirtbags McConnell and some Curtis dipsh*t from Utah.
Still, Trump should have used a recess appointment to install Gaetz. I can only figure that Thune reneged on his word during the majority leader race (when I’m sure he told Trump that he would allow recess appointments in exchange for Trump not publicly backing Rick Scott). In any case, Thune should have threatened these Senate scumbags with a recess appointment possibility to sway one of their votes.
Thune is the ultimate enemy, here. He needs to be removed as majority leader. The Senate GOP MUST NOT become an arm of the democrat anti-American machine as they have been most of the time under the vegetable scumbag McConnell. They need a no-confidence vote on Thune to remove his backstabbing traitorous azz and hold new leadership elections.
This is insane, really. Reminds me of what these scumbags did right after the Tea Party gave them the biggest swing in COngressional power in 100 years. Unreal …
Does Trump have to name a new nominee for AG? Why not just let it ride. When an opportunity comes to make a recess appointment, appoint Gaetz. Or nominate someone, have him approved, and when the chance comes around to make a recess appointment, fire that AG and appoint Gaetz. The Dems would do something like this. Why not Trump? Is he not an “agent of chaos”? I hope he is. That’s why I voted for him.
Not having an AG because you are desperate for an incompetent who refuses to work with anybody not himself who is scandal prone is how you act if you are on crack, heroine or something else that is highly illegal.
Trump is luckily non of the above. Nobody is perfect and the Gaetz nomination was at best bad judgement and it is over.
The position of AG is the nations top lawyer it should go to a lawyer.
Gaetz has a JD and practiced law before becoming a Congressman.
Give up you maniac.
Gaetz isn’t a lawyer, and he isn’t a Republican either.
Because he dedicated himself to fighting the Republican Party for the last two years let him run on the Gaetz party.
I want to see the ethics reports on every Representative and Senator, an accounting of every $ spent to hide their nasty ass proclivities, and the entire Epstein pervert on those flights. Then we can have an open and honest discussion about rapists and those inclined to molest minors.
I’d also like to see any information regarding how the media and Hollywood rapists have foiled someone’s nest.
If we are going to be transparent, let’s be transparent.
Ummm. JR. Transparent does not include your favorite club. Chicks with Dks.
The Dylan Mulvaney videos are still on PornHub, so go there and relieve your stress about this.
Are the videos of you and Mulvaney together still up on PornHub too?
Quit upvoting yourself, douchebag.
We are not even three weeks from the election, and already the Franz von Papen Republicans have claimed their first prize. Remember that the Communists didn’t have to lift a finger as Cornyn and other GOP senators did their dirty work for them.
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/5001118-gaetz-senate-confirmation-battles/
Do you have any god dam clue who the f Franz Von Papen was?
The GOP senators said no to a man who has never practiced law becoming AG.
If you want incompetence go with a non-lawyer.
What you expect a man who has made a profession out of saying to other Republicans
“fuck you you are communist nazi vichy maoist stalinist leninist……..millions of other insults and I will try to hurt the party from within as much as humanly possible” then don’t like him!!!!
Wow insulting and despising people and grandstanding does not make friends who ever would have thought!!!!!!
Who ever would have thought that the reason 20th century Republicans like Eisenhower, Nixon, and Raegan worked hard to get along with a wide variety of Republicans and moderates to form a coalition did so in order to reap the rewards!!!
There has to be an inquiry into this….actually there is it is called Rubio is getting through nomination without question from anybody.
Rubio knows how to actually do things, Matt Gaetz knows how to do an act on television.
I am with VDH on this. I think it is bait for a serious bit of head fakery.
The momentum was that the Republican Senators said no to his nomination, he was threatening to saddle the administration with a scandal because nobody in this country who is not a police officer cares if she was 17 or 18 he was unqualified for the job having never practiced law, he has a proven history of refusing to be part of a team (see the way he has been in congress since 2016, in public office since 2010 yet hasn’t a single ally in the Republican Party, far from it the closest he ever came to an ally in the Republican Party publicly accused him of inviting him to orgies).
He was a horrible pick. He is good at making sound bites but in a politician a good one is able to advance legislation, and or his/her districts interests, and as a lawyer there really is nothing to say for him because he does not and never has practiced law.
With men like Turley, and Dershowitz around and frankly countless competent Republican lawyers ready to purge the DOJ the Matt Gaetz nomination was a clown show.
I am glad it is over, and I have been vindicated from having said the Republican Senate was going to say no.
Pam Bondi is an interesting pick. I wonder if Trump was thinking that all along and always planned on Gaetz doing something else. He nominated Gaetz to take a hit as it will be far harder to refuse to seat Bondi. Dems just wanted to get their moment of resistance in front of the camera’s.