There’s been much speculation in the last 24 hours as to what former congressman Matt Gaetz is going to do next now that he’s withdrawn his name from consideration to be Donald Trump’s Attorney General.
As RedState’s Jennifer Van Laar reported Thursday:
Gaetz met with multiple Republican Senators on Wednesday in an attempt to shore up support for the nomination and said that while those meetings went well, he didn’t want the confirmation to be a “distraction to the critical work of the Trump/Vance transition.”
There have been reports that at least five Senate Republicans had signaled they wouldn’t vote to approve Gaetz:
- Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
- Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK)
- Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME)
- Sen. Markwarne Mullin (R-OK)
- Sen.-elect John Curtis (R-UT)
That would put Gaetz under the threshold of votes needed to be confirmed.
In announcing his withdrawal from consideration, Gaetz noted, “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.”
It appears Gaetz didn’t want to hold up the process and have President-elect Trump expend too much political capital before he was even sworn into office. Some have speculated that Gaetz withdrew over fears that a House Ethics Committee report on the now-former congressman would be released and would contain damning information.
Whatever the reason, it seemed that Matt Gaetz was now out of a job, having resigned his House seat to go all-in on nabbing the top spot at the Department of Justice. The question remained over whether he would officially rescind that resignation and be seated with the new Congress when it’s sworn in on January 3, 2025.
Gaetz made it official on Friday: He’s not going back to Congress. As he told Charlie Kirk, “I’m still gonna be in the fight, but it’s going to be from a new perch. I do not intend to join the 119th Congress.”
Gaetz noted to Kirk that he had been in elected office since he was 26 years old, and now, at age 42, he has other opportunities that he’d like to pursue. He’s married now and presumably would like to spend more time with his family.
There had been some signs that Gaetz was considering putting his House career behind him:
It’s unlikely that Matt Gaetz is going to leave Washington, D.C., behind in the dust. Media is a natural fit for Gaetz, so that door has to be open for him. Some have speculated whether Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) would consider Gaetz for the Senate seat that will open when Marco Rubio (R-FL) resigns in order to be confirmed as Donald Trump’s Secretary of State.
There’s another possibility: a recess appointment. Trump has openly been in favor of using this tool to get some of his appointees through the process. This seems like a way to get Gaetz a position in the Trump administration while foregoing a nasty Senate battle.
