Saturday, November 23, 2024 - US conservative firebrand and Trump loyalist, Matt Gaetz has announced that he is withdrawing from consideration for United States attorney general following renewed focus on sexual misconduct allegations against him.
In a statement on social media on Thursday night, November
21, just over one week after President-elect Donald Trump named Gaetz as his
pick for the position of top federal prosecutor, the former Florida congressman
said that he had become a “distraction”.
Gaetz, a divisive figure even within Trump’s Republican
Party, faced the prospect of opposition to his nomination in the US Senate,
where proposed cabinet members must pass a confirmation vote.
“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,” Gaetz said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“I remain fully committed to
see that Donald J Trump is the most successful President in history.”
Gaetz’s history of picking fights with high-level Republican
leaders coupled with allegations that he had sexual relations with a
17-year-old, a crime in the US where the age of consent is 18, helped end his
chances of being attorney general . Gaetz has denied the allegations of sexual
impropriety.
Trump, said in a social media post that he was “greatly”
appreciative of Gaetz’s work.
“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 said in a post on his social media site Truth
Social.
“Matt has a wonderful future,
and I look forward to watching all of the great things he will do!” Trump said
on Thursday.
Gaetz’s past came under scrutiny in a sex trafficking probe
by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) that ended without charges against him
last year.
He was also the subject of an investigation by the US House
Ethics Committee over allegations of sexual misconduct, and an attorney for two
women told committee investigators that Gaetz paid them for sex on multiple
occasions starting in 2017. That committee debated whether to release its
report on Gaetz following Trump’s selection of him as attorney general.
Joel Leppard, attorney for the two women, said that one
woman testified that she had seen Gaetz having sex with a 17-year-old girl at a
party in Florida in 2017. The woman said that she did not think Gaetz was aware
that the girl in question was underage, and paused their relationship until she
turned 18, the legal age of consent in Florida.
Gaetz resigned from the US House of Representatives last
week after Trump announced him as his pick for attorney general. It is unclear
whether Gaetz will return to his seat in the US Congress to which he was
re-elected for another two years on November 5.
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