Former Congressman Matt Gaetz on Thursday withdrew his name for consideration as President-elect Donald Trump's nominee as 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," Gaetz wrote in a post on X.
“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,” he added.
President-elect Trump wrote on Truth Social: "I greatfully appreciate the recent efforts of Matt Gaetz in seeking to be approved as 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. Matt has a wonderful future, and I look forward to watching all of the great things he will do!"
Gaetz's nomination had run into controversy from the moment after the announcement over allegations that he had sex with a minor, which had been investigated by the ethics committee of the US House of Representatives. Both Republican and Democratic lawmakers had called for the report of the committee to be made public or be shared with the US Senate's judiciary committee for confirmation hearing.
Former Representative Gaetz of Florida had resigned just days before the report of the ethics committee was due to be released. His move was reportedly done just in time in order to avoid its circulation of the report, citing a tradition that does not allow the body to investigate people not in the House. But there have been exceptions to the protocol.
CNN reported that Gaetz's withdrawal announcement came shortly after the news channel reached out to the former congressman with new allegations that he had sex with the minor not once but twice.
Pete Hegseth, who is Trump's nominee for defence secretary, is also mired in controversy over news reports that he was once accused by a woman of sexually assaulting her. He has denied the allegation.
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