The shocking announcement on Wednesday that President-Elect Donald Trump planned to name Rep. Matt Gaetz his nominee for attorney general was followed a few hours later by another announcement when House Speaker Mike Johnson said that Gaetz had already announced that he was resigning his seat in Congress, effective immediately.
There were a few reasons why Gaetz’s announced nomination was shocking: He’s said to be an immensely unpopular figure on Capitol Hill, with the news of his nomination greeted on the Hill with both shock and laughs.
Gaetz is known as a hardcore Trump loyalist, and he’s also known for something else: He was investigated by the Justice Department for sex trafficking, in a probe that was closed without charges against him. More recently, Gaetz was the subject of a long-running probe into the sex trafficking allegations, by the House Ethics Committee.
The resignation would seem to mean the end of that probe, since the Ethics Committee has no jurisdiction over someone who is no longer a member of Congress.
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Reporter Jake Sherman said on X Wednesday night that the Ethics Committee was close to voting on whether to release a “highly damaging” report in relation to the Gaetz probe.
🚨 🚨BREAKING NEWS FROM @PunchbowlNews :
Rep. Matt Gaetz’s (R-Fla.) resignation from Congress came two days before the House Ethics Committee was set to vote on releasing a “highly damaging” report outlining its investigation into the Republican, according to multiple sources…
— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) November 14, 2024
Should Gaetz’s nomination for attorney general reach a confirmation hearing, Democratic senators will likely ask about the allegations, and probably try to get a hold of the documents from the House Ethics probe. Trump, however, has demanded from the Senate the power to make recess appointments for his cabinet picks, which would prevent confirmation hearings altogether.
Among other alleged past wrongdoing by Gaetz:
Sen. Markwayne Mullin on Matt Gaetz: “We had all seen the videos he was showing on the House floor … of the girls that he had slept with. He’d brag about how he would crush ED medicine and chase it with an energy drink so he could go all night.” @mkraju pic.twitter.com/HKxprmuCcD
— The Intellectualist (@highbrow_nobrow) November 13, 2024
Former Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, whose downfall was masterminded by Gaetz, has long implied that there are damning details about Gaetz, declaring, “regardless of what you think, I’ve seen the texts” in his farewell speech.
Photo courtesy of the Political Tribune media library.
