WASHINGTON (CN) — Former Florida Representative Matt Gaetz announced Thursday that he has withdrawn from the running to become the next attorney general, following a week of controversy regarding his nomination by President-elect Donald Trump.
In a post on X, formerly Twitter, Gaetz said he made the decision after meeting with senators on Capitol Hill on Wednesday. “There is no time to waste on a needlessly protracted Washington scuffle,” he wrote, an apparent reference to concerns that the GOP-majority Senate would not confirm him.
Gaetz’s nomination put a looming House Ethics Committee report in the spotlight, which is expected to reveal the fruits of an investigation into claims Gaetz had sex with a minor and engaged in illicit drug use, among other House rule violations.
The committee has delayed the report’s release, announcing Wednesday it will meet again on Dec. 5 to decide whether to make the report public. Republicans on the committee have insisted the report is not complete.
ABC News first reported Wednesday that the committee had obtained reports that Gaetz had paid more than $10,000 to two women who testified before the committee.
According to exhibits shown during closed-door testimony, Gaetz made at least 27 PayPal and Venmo payments between July 2017 and January 2019 to the two witnesses. They testified that some of the payments were for sex.
Trump, who shocked lawmakers in Congress and legal experts with his decision to tap Gaetz for the nation’s top prosecutor — given the investigation and Gaetz’s legal inexperience — thanked Gaetz in a brief Truth Social post.
“I greatly appreciate the recent efforts of Matt Gaetz in seeking approval to be attorney general,” Trump said. “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.”
This is a developing story and will be updated.