Former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) is withdrawing his name from consideration to be the next U.S. attorney general amid allegations that he attended sex parties with minors.
He announced his decision on social media Thursday after holding meetings with some of the senators whose support he would have needed to be confirmed.
“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 wrote.
“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,” the post read.
Gaetz spent just over one week as President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Justice Department, despite having once been the subject of a Justice Department investigation involving alleged sex trafficking. Federal prosecutors declined to file charges against him last year.
A separate investigation by the House Ethics Committee had been winding down at the time Trump nominated Gaetz, with its members debating whether to release a report on their findings. They deadlocked on the decision Wednesday.
The Florida congressman resigned his seat in Congress last week. He had just been elected to another two-year term representing Florida’s western panhandle.
Trump said on his Truth Social platform that he respected Gaetz’s decision.
“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,” Trump wrote.
“Matt has a wonderful future, and I look forward to watching all of the great things he will do!” he concluded.
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Gaetz’s announcement came just minutes before CNN published a report stating that a woman who says she had sex with Gaetz in 2017 when she was 17 years old had told the House Ethics Committee there were two incidents involving Gaetz.
While one alleged sexual encounter with the woman had previously been reported, the second alleged sexual encounter was new information for the public. The woman told the committee it occurred at the same 2017 party and involved Gaetz, the 17-year-old and an adult woman.
On Wednesday evening, The New York Times revealed a document obtained from the Justice Department investigation into Gaetz that purported to show payments he made to a variety of women and underage girls.