Congressman Matt Gaetz announced Thursday that he’s withdrawing as President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for attorney general, saying the investigation into his alleged child sex trafficking was “unfairly becoming a distraction” for the transition team.
About 30 minutes before he made the announcement on X, yet another allegation surfaced regarding Gaetz having sex with underage girls.
David Jolly, a former Republican House member from Florida, served with Gaetz in Congress. He told KNX News’ daily show Countdown 2024 that many congressmembers are “breathing a sigh of relief that the nomination has been withdrawn.”
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“From the time he entered politics in the state legislature through his years in Congress, he was known for his extracurricular behaviors, many of which caught the attention of federal prosecutors and resulted in one of his closest friends being convicted of sex trafficking,” Jolly said.
While Gaetz ultimately wasn’t charged in that case, the House Ethics Committee “has a different burden of proof” in its own investigation, and Jolly said most House colleagues expected their report on Gaetz to contain “damning information.”
Even if Gaetz hadn’t stepped aside, Jolly said he would have faced an uphill battle in his Senate confirmation hearing.
“This was an embarrassing chapter for the president-elect and for the vice president-elect, JD Vance, who was personally on the hill lobbying Republican senators,” he said. “The votes just weren't there, and what was going to happen over the next 6 weeks is it was going to get worse and worse. The information from the ethics committee would ultimately leak out, even if the committee didn't release it.”
How did Trump make such a catastrophic political misstep? Jolly pointed out that Trump himself was found liable for sexual abuse in civil court.
“I don't know what that means culturally, if that barrier has now been shattered, if that bar has been lowered, because clearly Donald Trump doesn't see it as a barrier to his return to the White House, perhaps he didn't see it as a barrier with Matt Gaetz or with Hegseth,” Jolly said.
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In case you forgot, Gaetz resigned from Congress last week after his nomination as attorney general – likely as a move to stop the Ethics Committee from releasing its report on him. That means he’s now left without a job.
If he wants to reenter politics, Jolly said there are two avenues he could pursue: he could still be named to a position in Trump’s administration that doesn’t require Senate confirmation, and there are also rumors he could run for governor of Florida in 2026.
“After the events of this week, does that make him less viable as a candidate, or in today's Republican Party, more viable?” Jolly asked. “I think we'll see him test the waters and we'll find out.”
Listen to the full episode above to hear San Jose Mayor Matt Mahon discuss what blue cities are doing to keep Democratic voters on their side, and catch new episodes of Countdown 2024 every weekday at 2:30 p.m.
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