Wednesday was a whirlwind day for Matt Gaetz of Florida. President-elect Donald Trump announced he will be the next attorney general and he announced his resignation from Congress. With the latter, he fell out of the grasp of the House Ethics Committee, which is currently investigating him.
Previously Audacy reported on a probe into Gaetz by the U.S. Department of Justice and a fight between Gaetz and Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) over the ethics investigation.
In a June press release, the committee said that it announced that a review into allegations that Gaetz may have engaged in sexual misconduct and/or illicit drug use, shared inappropriate images or videos on the House floor, misused state identification records, converted campaign funds to personal use, and/or accepted a bribe, improper gratuity, or impermissible gift, in violation of House Rules, laws, or other standards of conduct in April 2021. That investigation was reauthorized last year following a withdrawn referral request from the U.S. Department of Justice.
“There has been a significant and unusual amount of public reporting on the Committee’s activities this Congress. Much of that reporting has been inaccurate,” said the press release. It also said that Gaetz denied all of the allegations.
Still, as of June, the bipartisan Committee had determined that some of the allegations merited further review, as well as additional allegations that merited review. At that time, it was reviewing allegations that Gaetz engaged in sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, accepted improper gifts, dispensed special privileges and favors to individuals with whom he had a personal relationship, and sought to obstruct government investigations of his conduct. Gaetz alleged sharing of inappropriate images or videos on the House floor, misuse of state identification records, converting of campaign funds to personal use, and/or acceptance of bribes or improper gratuity were not under review.
“Notwithstanding the difficulty in obtaining relevant information from Representative Gaetz and others, the Committee has spoken with more than a dozen witnesses, issued 25 subpoenas, and reviewed thousands of pages of documents in this matter,” said the release.
Gaetz, 42, is from Hollywood, Fla., worked as an attorney in Northwest Florida with the Keefe, Anchors & Gordon law firm before he was elected to Congress. He was elected to the Florida state House in 2010 and then became a member of the U.S. House in 2017. A member of First Baptist Church in Fort Walton Gaetz is married to Ginger Gaetz and adopted his son, Nestor, when the boy was 12. He’s also been called the “Trumpiest” lawmaker in Congress.
“It is my Great Honor to announce that Congressman Matt Gaetz, of Florida, is hereby nominated to be The Attorney General of the United States,” said Trump in a Wednesday Truth Social Post. “Matt is a deeply gifted and tenacious attorney, trained at the William & Mary College of Law, who has distinguished himself in Congress through his focus on achieving desperately needed reform at the Department of Justice.”
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-La.) said during a Wednesday press conference that Gaetz announced his immediate resignation from Congress, which came as a surprise. Johnson added that the move gives him more time to discuss Gaetz’s potential replacement with Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Johnson also said that the Ethics Committee now has no jurisdiction over Gaetz but that it can issue a report on their investigation.
House Ethics Committee Chair Michael Guest (R-Miss.) told reporters Wednesday, “the Ethics investigation that is currently ongoing would cease,” with Gaetz as attorney general, according to The Hill. However, the outlet also noted that Rep. Max Miller (R-Ohio), a critic of Gaetz, told reporters earlier that day that he expected to see Gaetz’s Ethics Committee findings being aired in Senate confirmation hearings for his role as AG.