President-elect Donald Trump picked Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) as his attorney general on Nov. 13, 2024. Gaetz is being probed by the House Ethics Committee as a part of an ongoing investigation that includes allegations of sexual misconduct and illicit drug use.
Anti-LGBTQ+ MAGA diehards are upset that former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) withdrew his nomination to be attorney general. Though President-elect Donald Trump has named his former impeachment lawyer and former Florida attorney general Pam Bondi as Gaetz’s replacement, some Trump supporters still think Gaetz would’ve been a good pick to lead the Department of Justice (DOJ), despite the accusations of statutory rape and child sex trafficking against him.
“While the momentum was strong, it is clear that my confirmation was unfairly becoming a distraction to the critical work of the Trump/Vance Transition,” Gaetz wrote in a Thursday social media post announcing his resignation. “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 [Department of Justice] must be in place and ready on Day 1. I remain fully committed to see that Donald J. Trump is the most successful President in history.”
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His withdrawal is one of the quickest ever for a presidential Cabinet nomination, and it’s not entirely clear if he can get his House seat back seeing as he resigned from the chamber after Trump nominated him, promising not to take his oath of office for the seat again in 2025. Nonetheless, MAGA diehards are lamenting his withdrawal.
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Right-wing pundit Matt Wallace commented, “Super disappointed Matt Gaetz was forced by the elites to drop out. They probably threatened his life because most of them have done crimes so graphic I can’t even describe them here. They can’t have someone like Matt investigating them.”
He got the call…
Super disappointed Matt Gaetz was forced by the elites to drop out.
They probably threatened his life because most of them have done crimes so graphic I can’t even describe them here.
They can’t have someone like Matt investigating them.
Valentina Gomez, a failed Missouri secretary of state candidate who used homophobic slurs and anti-queer rhetoric in her campaign wrote, “Come hell or high water, I have your back Matt. God bless you and Ginger.”
Come hell or high water, I have your back Matt. God bless you and Ginger.
Right-wing pundit Kevin Smith wrote, “As a friend It kills me to hear this… As an American, we as a nation will miss out on your leadership at the DOJ.”
As a friend It kills me to hear this…
As an American, we as a nation will miss out on your leadership at the DOJ
George — a conservative influencer who has spread election misinformation, according to the media watchdog group Snopes — wrote to Gaetz, “What the swamp has done to you is truly sickening.”
What the swamp has done to you is truly sickening.
Kylie Jane Kremer, Executive Director for the Woman for America First, wrote, “WTF?! We want YOU, Matt Gaetz to lead the DOJ! We gave [Donald J. Trump] a mandate and he chose you!”
Despite her claim about Trump’s “mandate,” Trump margin of victory in the 2024 presidential election — just 1.6 percentage points — is one of the tiniest in history.
WTF?! We want YOU, Matt Gaetz to lead the DOJ! We gave DJT a mandate and he chose you!
Numerous left-wing commenters gleefully mocked Gaetz for dropping out, calling him a “pedophile” over reports that he had sex with a 17-year-old girl (and possibly a second minor) at drug-fueled sex parties. But Republicans expressed relief that they’ll no longer have to decide whether to oppose Trump’s nomination in a Senate confirmation battle.
Even Republican Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) wrote, “Justice has been served” after Gaetz’s withdrawal, posting an image of former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) holding up the speaker’s gavel with red shining eyes. Gaetz infamously led the successful effort to kick out McCarthy from the speakership in late 2023.
After his ouster, McCarthy said, “I’ll give you the truth why I’m not speaker. It’s because one person, a member of Congress, wanted me to stop an ethics complaint because he slept with a 17-year-old, an ethics complaint that started before I ever became speaker, and that’s illegal and I’m not going to get in the middle. Did he do it or not? I don’t know. But ethics is looking at it… and he wanted me to influence it.”
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