Former congressman Matt Gaetz (R-Florida) announced in a social media post Thursday that he was withdrawing his bid to be attorney general for President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming administration, saying his confirmation was “unfairly becoming a distraction.” “There is no time to waste on a needlessly protracted Washington scuffle,” Gaetz said after meeting with senators on Wednesday. Former Fox News host Pete Hegseth, Trump’s pick for defense secretary, is meeting with senators on Capitol Hill on Thursday after police records revealed new details about a sexual assault allegation against him. Vice President-elect JD Vance is accompanying Hegseth.
November 21, 2024
Gaetz withdraws.
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And he already resigned from congress. Not a good look. WTF!?!
Didn't he withdraw so Governor De Santis could call a special election and fill the seat as soon as possible, to preserve the Republicans' narrow control of the House? Is there any reason he couldn't run again for his own seat? Unusual, but it's an unusual situation.
The first withdrawal.
Unlikely the last.
Such an impressive vetting process!
Hegesth is next. He paid off some chick. That's all that's it for his nomination.
He withdrew from the current Congress. I have heard it asserted that, notwithstanding, he remains the congressman elect for the next Congress.
Maybe a deal was made that the ethics report wouldn't be released if he withdrew.
Trump sure knows which Senators to oppose now, right?
And Musk knows which Senators need a primary he could fund, right?
Jake Sherman pointed out that Gaetz resigned from the 118th (current) Congress but he was also just reelected to serve in the 119th Congress starting in January. Speculation is that now he knows exactly what was in the "report" thanks to leaking Democrats posing as hackers. Perhaps he plans on taking his seat to represent FL for the next two years.
He resigned his Congressional seat and is no longer a Congressman. Period. I suppose DeSantis could re-appoint him ... but he won't.
I have mixed feelings. He was an odd choice, but I like that Trump has been naming people who had been burned by the various enforcement agencies to head them.
Florida is already scheduling a special election to replace Gaetz and Waltz. Both won their elections with 66% of the vote this month. Nothing will change in Congress.
Queing up for the Senate seat.
Ah the quick-winged Quail beat me to it.
And I would view this exercise as intelligence gathering on Republicans.
It's not a good look...regardless of the attacks against him lacking merit. The left and the MSM will use this for years, and against every other nominee.
Maybe Trump nominates Paxton or Hawley, Gaetz is right the DOJ needs a plug-puller on day one.
No dancing in the sunlight
Obviously there’s something in the House ethics report that is bad, otherwise his R colleagues would have released it to clear him.
Now Trumps personal lawyer, who was nominated for #2 at DOJ can move up.
He resigned Congress to avoid release of the report. Assume he withdrew for same reason. Why would he go back to his seat? There must be a job in the administration he can take that does not need confirmation. His dad is rich so he does not need private sector pay.
Hope this is not Trump surrendering to the Republican Senate like he did in his first term. Hope this is Gaetz deciding to withdraw on his own. Maybe there is a smoking gun out there. Hope Trump has another hard-core loyalist lined up.
Lots of Hopium.
Sacrifice Fly. Cough up somebody they will stop so they can pretend they did something
Senator Gaetz lol. DeSantis is too GOPe for that.
"The left will use this for years"
Readering, Mark, and Creola Soul aren't waiting, case in point. Bad optics and bad timing.
Trump really can’t pick an AG can he? Jeff Sessions? Matt Gaetz? Ugh
Best thing that could happen to Trump.
I wonder if Matt Whitaker had turned it down before being nominated for NATO Ambassador?
Gaetz burned his boats then everybody else got back in their boats and rowed away.
The man hasn't even taken office yet and one of his picks - including one he secretly touted on the campaign trail - for a top and ultra-necessary job just KO'd himself. I disagree. This is already being weaponized.
they savaged whitaker, the last time, when he was recess appointed,
JD better get Hegseth confirmed.
2nd term, 1st scalp. The swamp - which includes elected officials - won this round.
Wow. That is bad. If there is nothing there, then the distraction is just typical leftist bullshit. If you can’t take that, then the careerist in the DoJ will eat your lunch. It makes his resignation seem less like a ploy to get a quick replacement (could be done by Jan 3rd isn’t the same as what can be done) and more like a way to get out of Congress to avoid the ethics stuff. People will infer based on your actions and this was dumb.
"This is already being weaponized."
How?
Unless you're a Democrat of course. The POTUS was showering with his daughter and taking bribes. His VP entered politics by whoring herself out. Joy joy joy. You're an idiot.
Jonathan Turley
Will Trump abandon Gaetz on the beach or did he find room for Gaetz in his own boat?
In other words, will Trump find some other, less prominent role for Gaetz after things cool off?
“The wicked flee when none pursueth, but the righteous are bold as a lion” - Proverbs 28:1
Regardless of whether it's true or not, that is what people will think. We are in an information warfare age. Optics and appearances matter. The truth still matters, but the truth takes too long to come out and it matters even less so to an ever increasing cohort of the electorate, who still get their information from The View.
The liars and the deep state just bagged a trophy.
Turley, sure, a good man who loves the rule of law, is a Lefty. Trump has already appointed way too many Lefties. Could we stop with that about now, please? It's going to come back to bite him - especially Bobby.
I think he'll consider Rudy Giuliani or Susan Necheles.
If you think Trump hasn't considered this possibility you're nuts. He put Gaetz out there so that the Democrats would lose their shit and it worked.
Maybe the next AG will appoint Gaetz as a special council.
Shit happens
What a bizarre episode. It feels completely choreographed - like the wrestling matches of old. What was the point? A sop to allow the new Republican Majority to claim that they are exercising oversight - while letting everyone else through as a recess appointment? Sure feels that way - no matter what happens to Hesgeth.
If you can be bullied out of the nomination, you're just not the guy. Better President Trump knows this now instead of later.
Do you really pay think DeSantis would appoint Gaetz?
Was Gaetz just a sacrificial lamb or was this a huge political gaffe? The Trump team had to have gameplanned this right? I guess we will know the answer when the replacement is announced.
Told you.
Gaetz was just put out there to punk the progs. Mission accomplished. The next nominee will be confirmed and will get more done.
There's definitely a payback-in-the-smoke-filled-room angle here. Gaetz went through with the only "motion to vacate" that was successful against the Speaker of The House, Kevin McCarthy. That shook some roosts. Gaetz didn't realize his senate "colleagues" were playing Brutus & Co. to his Julius Caeser when he went for a chat.
If Gaetz was a distraction, Giuliani announced as AG might be what MSNBC needs to become profitable again.
Giuliani is unconfirmable. Besides being an old drunk he has been disbarred.
Poor Rudy is the prime example of how enterin Trump’s orbit will destroy you.
This hasn't played out yet. Let's see what the next move is.
Come on, RideSpaceMountain. Gaetz is a mental lightweight and known perv and was way before his association with Trump. It was a pathetic and ill-informed move on Trump’s part. There’s no conspiracy here. He’s got the morals of Hunter Biden, and if you didn’t know it, he’d show you the pictures himself.
"This is already being weaponized."
How? Lefties will gloat? Who cares?
Harriet Hageman
Trump just dodged a bullet with the aborted Gaetz nomination. The Justice Department is filled with Trump enemies who would have eaten the pint-size pretty boy for lunch. Trump needs deep expertise to nip Lawfare 2.0 in the bud, not to mention a deep cleaning of the institution. Never send a boy to do a man’s job.
The proposer of the only successful "motion to vacate" the chair in the history of the US House is a "mental lightweight"...yeah nah you can keep thinking that.
And regarding being a "known perv" and the "morals of Hunter Biden", I'm super glad that we have you as a confirmed expert on the truthfulness and proven-guilty nature of such claims. Thank you for your service!
I'm surprised the Left did not support Gaetz. Aren't they the party of sex worker rights? Who did they think pay sex workers for sex. Why didn't the left come down hard on DOJ and the FBI for disrespecting sex workers, calling them unreliable witnesses in the Gaetz case.
If there is anything I've learned about DC sex scandals, going at least back to Senator Teddy Kennedy killing Mary Jo Kopechne, it is that the initial reports of misbehaorior are usually quite different from the full picture. And by now, it is possible even that Trump paid back a campaign debt by tossing Gaetz's name into the nomination process, and now is free of that burden - and perhaps also free of obligation to a slimy Congressional trust funder who would cause nothing but problems down the line. Time will tell.
Who is Trump's Assistant AG pick? Gaetz may have been just a bone tossed to Rep Senators for their moral theater.
"The Justice Department is filled with Trump enemies who would have eaten the pint-size pretty boy for lunch. Trump needs deep expertise to nip Lawfare 2.0 in the bud, not to mention a deep cleaning of the institution."
I never bought that Gaetz was the man for the job. Surely there must be somebody with deep knowledge of the DOJ who is better suited to clean house.
Yes, I know because I worked in Tallahassee when he was there. Look up Ray Sansom. Look up Gaetz’s daddy. His behavior was never a secret. And I’m absolutely sure Democrats would have voted him in because he would be such a disaster. He would be trying to retain his seat right now if he wasn’t afraid of what that report will reveal.
Pay your whores in cash and use pimps who don’t steal taxpayer money. If you can’t figure that out, you have no future in politics. Luckily he’s from a very safe district.
Then he should pick Roger Stone. At least that would be hilarious.
It’s a circus before the Tent even goes up. 🎪
The clown show is going just as well as most people thought it would. 🤡
This is a lovely bit of stable clearing.
No longer a congressman. No longer AG. Now he’s just an unemployed sex pest.
Lot of scandals just were not reported.
It’s not going to cool off. The scandal has been going on in Florida for over a decade. If I were Rubio, I’d be a little worried right now. Trump dodged another bullet, and I hope this will make him more judicious.
I wonder why Richard Grenell hasn't been nominated for a position yet?
And how do you know that? You keep squawking like a fishwife that I know nothing about Florida politics. I started working in Florida politics in 1986. Spent the next 30+ years in Georgia and Florida politics.
I'm not disappointed in Gaetz' withdrawal.
I wonder what the Althouse commentariat thinks of Trey Gowdy?
it was a stunningly bad pick. It's one thing to pick a fight with the Dems, but another to pick a fight with the Republicans over such a lightweight.
I'm thinking there's something that, no matter how it's looked at, would be taken as evidence that he 'did something'. And then the usual screeching would ensue. Hell, it might be something as simple and crude as saying "Nice tits!" to a woman sometime 30 years or more ago. That should certainly be grounds for total ruination of anyone's career, right?
Lol - remember when a BJ in the Oval Office was considered none of our business? Now you've got to drag out anything and everything in order to bash a Republican, while you hide everything a D ever did in order to protect 'our democracy'.
DeSantis is doing a fine job running Florida. He’s not much of a communicator. But he not an establishment figure. More of a loner.
He’s like a chubby Senator Scott. At least we’re rid of that borders turncoat Rubio.
Hopefully Dr Oz will have the same fate. Another unserious lightweight.
Is Tina Trent the only non-sickophant who can think for herself? Don't agree with her much but I sure admire the way she is consistent in the application of her values.
Sour grapes. Your guys lost.
Actually, Stone would be a perfect pick. Nobody knows more than he does about how politics really works, and he’s still mad as hell about how his wife was treated by federal agents. He’s a bit old, is all.
Excellent idea
do y'all remember the House Page Scandal?
some Dem Rep was doinking 16 year old male Pages, and when that got out..
a) the Dems said: 16 is the age of consent.. so IT'S ALL COOL
b) the Dems said: some Rep Rep was doinking a 17 year old female Page; so THERE!
The upshot was:
the Rep Rep resigned in disgrace..
the Dem Rep continued in office, winning reelection time after time, until dying of AIDS while in office
Gaetz may have a few antisocial issues, but he’s actually extremely smart. He and Sen Kennedy are the most fun and insightful (inciteful?) questioners to watch in any hearing, imho.
I'm glad you worked in Tallahassee. Good for you. I'm still hearing 3rd person accounts and hearsay. I see a lot of sharks and too little chum in the water, and no one's taken a bite. Gaetz is gone and you're happy about that, but you won't find me among the buyers of sexual bullshit the left has tried to cry wolf over too many times.
The moral is: Dems can doink 16 year old boys, Reps can NOT doink 17 year old girls
This ties into today's scandals if you pay attention
Me too. He seems first-rate, and I was looking forward to him taking hammer and tong to the Intelligence Agencies. Is the FBI director still available?
I always thought you were right about Gaetz, Tina. I am just not sure that he is any worse than most politicians.
Wrong. He's a doctor. One doesn't get to be a doctor by being a lightweight.
Apparently the DOJ saw unreliable witnesses and did not indict. Does not make Gaetz a good fit for AG
Many Democrats including me were looking forward to the confirmation process, especially if MTG went forward with her promise of dancing in the sunlight. Guessing you don't know the quote.
Susan Necheles has the pedigree and is very liberal. Great choice.
Incredibly obvious that he was never going to get affirmed. I considered it an IQ test that almost all of the 'smart' conservative pundits failed.
Trump never thought he would get confirmed. It was a head fake. Not sure why Trump went this route, but Gaetz was never going to be confirmed.
The failure of Gaetz's nomination could have a chilling effect on future Attorney General nominees' ability to take cocaine and sleep with child sex slaves.
Trump should appoint him to be the next Ambassador to Albania (cue Wag the Dog).
Well, I wondered since Thune got the leadership position without much pushback from Trump if there was a secret deal to confirm all of Trump's nominations, including Gaetz. Seems pretty clear there wasn't.
At least we’re rid of that borders turncoat Rubio.
Are you talking about that Gang of Eight deal to avoid the nuclear option from ten years ago or has Rubio been advocating for other things more recently?
"You stupids don't understand the Art of the Fake Cabinet Pick"
I guess you geniuses were just keeping that secret in all of the other posts about Gaetz. Keep dreaming those dreamy dreams.
That's a shame. I was looking forward to the DOJ and FBI enjoying mongol justice.
Would've been an Attorney General Distraction. Good play.
https://x.com/BehizyTweets/status/1859667333859463393
NDAa and payments are not uncommon with celebrities/rich folks. Cost of doing business.
Only an idiot or true believer thought Gaetz would be confirmed...
Hopefully someone equally unfriendly to both can be found, especially the FBI. Someone that can shine a 10,000,000,000 candela Xenon searchlight on the place and dig up enough malfeasance - and there is plenty just in the last 4 years - to completely restructure it or even shut it down.
I am deadly serious when I say "shut it down"...the Agency has proven themselves completely lawless, and the American people shouldn't have to pay one more dime for a domestic Stasi.
Ken Paxton?
Checked the tweet. Yep...it checks out!
Yes. I thought Ric Grenell would have a plum seat by now. Hope he's being saved for something special.
This would be a great choice, and doesn't leave TX wanting either. There's Plenty-O-Paxtons that could fill his shoes that would jump at the chance to be to the right of him.
I like the word sickophant. It’s very fitting for those of us who keep trying to get out of politics, but keep getting pulled back in. Thanks for the compliment, Howard.
remember when a BJ in the Oval Office was considered none of our business? Now you've got to drag out anything and everything in order to bash a Republican, while you hide everything a D ever did in order to protect 'our democracy'.
As I recall it, that was a Republican congress that made it "our business".
Why do we want to give up paxton
Strange days indeed.
RFK Jr would love the AG job, no? Now that would be something!
Sorry for the double post. The spam-folder had my number today.
And, Readering, Unlike you she's a good lawyer.
All of those files are going to end up coming out eventually anyways.
"But he not an establishment figure. More of a loner"
Not hardly. Just look at his cogressional career and key votes. DeSantis was the establishment selection back in 2021 and was completely built up and funded by the establishment wing to replace Trump. The Sea Island crew, Ken Griffin et al, Murdoch, Ryan, the Bushes/Rove, the lot of them.
$250M campaign cash + $10M book deal + the key GOPe staffers tells you all you need to know.
What they did not see ahead of time was how clunky he would be on the campaign trail.
No Mike, he would have to run for the seat again. I doubt he will.
All you had to do was notice the DOJ is the one dept where the next 3 levels of nominees were announced in rapid succession behind the Gaetz nomination. Something has been percolating there all along.
He can’t. Has to run for it. Can’t be appointed. That’s just for Senators.
Trey Gowdy? All hat and no cattle. Another Lindsey Graham- talk big talk, even blow the opposition out of the water, and then vote for the Party's candidate anyway. No thank you. We have far too many GOPers who could be excellent for our side, but they aren't because they are squish, like Trey.
No one trusts Gowdy though the swamp would gladly confirm one of their own.
Gaetz clearly isn't bright enough to be AG. I heard he used his personal Venmo account to pay for his hookers. Dumb. I keep hearing Paxton. Please, no! He spouts everything conservatives love and does all the things people want, but he is as shady as....... There has to be someone better.
He's nowhere nearly as shady as the Rove/Bushies, Dade Phelan, et al
Roy Cohn for Attorney General
What I do remember is you dreamily dreamy dreaming of a Trump loss to biden/kamala just to rub our Trump supporting noses in it as you defended Inga despite her vomiting up her non-stop hoax-filled anti-Trump statements.
LOL
He must be tanned, rested and ready by now.
Trey Gowdy is my pick for AG. I am old enough to remember when he was a hero on the oversight committee, but somehow I've missed whatever he did to turn the Trump crowd against him. I assume it was nothing real...
Actually it was independent Counsel Ken Starr who found out that Bill Clinton committed a felony by lying under oath in a deposition.
The BJ was the evidence that Bill Clinton committed perjury in a civil case while under oath at a deposition. Everyone else in the world goes to jail for that.
Agreed. And their willingness to hop on board and pretend like it was a great pick was disheartening. A bit of deference is warranted in light of Trump's Win and apparent coattails. But not that much.
Additionally at that point everyone else in the world, after being caught lying in the deposition for the civil case, would be charged with the alleged crime in criminal court.
Bill Clinton was dead to rights for forcible Rape and Battery in the first degree and everyone else in the world goes to jail for years at that point.
"but he is as shady as...."
Who? Who is more shady? Who is less shady? Which politician/lawyer/appointee has an equal level of shadiness with Ken Paxton or Matt Gaetz? Will the real scum/shady please stand up? Which 3rd party hearsay source does this one come from? Which Buddha-adjacent Christ-like unblemished prophet do people actually want to make the much-needed war on the federal fucking government they voted to make happen on November 5th?
Paxton's bona-fides are exemplary, and he's got a track record that's proven on illegal immigration, which just so happens to be the number one most important national issue to a majority of the electorate.
Maynard, Gaetz managed to alienate some of the best conservatives on Capitol Hill. His strength came from his district (largely retired military) and many of the best-placed donors and activists from there hate him. He was involved in the Sansom/Rubio scandal, and Rubio needs to watch his back now, but he has powerful protectors. Not so Gaetz anymore. His daddy doesn’t matter on the national stage.
RSM, I’m done talking to you. It’s the typical 100 questions then no decency to reply in kind with a shred of evidence bullshit from pseudo-libertarian people who think they’re being clever. You don’t even have the nerve to use a real name.
I find it interesting that Gaetz did the Senate Interviews. We know of the six traitors. Was he looking for more traitors?
No he resigned from the 118 congressional term. He is in the incoming 119th term, if DeSantis doesn't appoint him to Rubio's senate seat.
Such an impressive vetting process!
Considering the freak show the current administration put into place, maybe you ought to sit this one out.
The next one, too.
Holder was the worst AG in history. He should be tried for treason but because he is a protected class, he will never be accountable.
Didn't he resign from the 118th and get elected for the 119th? Couldn't he just go get sworn in when hte new congress is seated?
Curious what the ethics report contains. What has been leaked so far is pretty weak. Seems like they were fishing for leakers too.
A smarter, shrewder guy would have recognized the folly of "vacating the chair" when you didn't have a candidate on hand to replace the speaker.
This seemed planned.
I am not sure why the swamp was so unhappy with him. Gaetz was probably the best they would get. They could at least slow walk and resist a morally compromised former congressman with "ethics complaints" against him.
No one holds a grudge like you, Drago. But I have no quarrel with you. In fact, you have my vote for King of the Winter Carnival.
Probably sussed out a few leakers too.
I didn't like Gaetz, but it was foolish of him -- as well as unfair to the voters -- to quit Congress before he had the new job.
Was he ever not tanned, though?
Is Stone Cold blooded enough for that? He seems like more of a showman to me.
Not where Republican-from-California Kevin McCarthy was involved, Lazarus. Fuck seniority bullshit, from both parties.
"What has been leaked so far is pretty weak. Seems like they were fishing for leakers too."
If they coulda, they woulda, and everyone told them they shoulda, but they didna, so...
I am still hoping for a cross between Rudy Giuliani and Pinochet for this particular job.
Would Texas lose much if Ken Paxton was pulled up?
I believed Gaetz had the will for the job. But not the mettle. I think Ken Paxton is the most likely best candidate from political sphere.
There are also probably 100 top level ruthless lawyers who would be good for the role, but you would have to convince them to knock 4 to 6 zeroes off their annual income to work more hours and never be liked in DC again.
This whole thing seems contrived to me. I get the feeling Gaetz was going to resign from congress eventually anyways and this was the ticket out. Trump accepted it too quickly.
I think they would have won if Gaetz actually got in. It seems Gaetz was always planning to resign to me.
Are you sure? I don’t know all the ins and outs of election law but I think a resignation is a resignation of the seat.
Gaetz quit Congress so the report wouldn't be released. Then the JOHNSON sycophant runs interference for him,,,don't release report as if ATTORNEY GENERAL to be confirmed should have that crap buried. See through like cellophane. At least Marjorie Taylor Green gets to head a committee ,that should be a beauty, hope they show it live..
She's a great lawyer.
Not a grudge at all. Just a good memory which irks some. I am a strategist by trade so I am able to step outside myself and view things dispassionately as they are, not as I wish them to be.
King of the Winter Carnival sounds nice, as long as I can swing a scepter...
a resignation is a resignation of the seat.
=================
seat is not his to possess ??? just term of occupancy
We have seen 20 years of lawfare by dems
what is sessions has grown backbone interim? renominate?
Hell yes. No doubt.
He has to run in the special election. He voided his last race.
Oh please Achilles. Gaetz was far more than compromised. He’s a slutty nepo baby.
Pam Bondi is the replacement.
Oh please, Vault. He did that because he’s the bag boy for the open borders Kochs and Al Cardenas.
Gail Heriot. J. Christian Adams. On our side.
Well well well. That was certainly quick, wasn't it? Along with the 3 other DOJ nominations this represents all 4 key positions for DOJ already banked and rolling.
This wasn’t even a meetoo# case. Gaetz’s pal Joel Greenberg turned on him. Don’t pay vinemo to pay whores, and be sure to get a pimp with no political ambitions.
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