US donald trump

Trump isn’t even in office yet and his Attorney General pick has stepped down over a scandal – somebody call the Guinness Book of Records

Oonagh Keating. Updated November 22nd, 2024

The row over whether Matt Gaetz should be the Attorney General in the new Trump administration came to a messy conclusion on Thursday, when he took himself out of the race.

Here’s how he announced it.

I had excellent meetings with Senators yesterday. I appreciate their thoughtful feedback - and the incredible support of so many. 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. 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. I remain fully committed to see that Donald J. Trump is the most successful President in history. I will forever be honored that President Trump nominated me to lead the Department of Justice and I'm certain he will Save America.

The former representative for Florida’s 1st congressional district had been the subject of investigations by the Department of Justice and the House Ethics Committee over accusations, which he strongly denies, of a number of sex offences including trafficking a 17-year-old whom it was alleged he took across state lines for immoral purposes.

After eight days of rows in the Capitol, the press and social media, Gaetz’ departure was mostly unexpected, but can probably be explained by this post from CNN’s Paula Reid.

The piece still went to air.

There was a mixture of relief, hilarity, and also a lot of disgust that someone with those accusations hanging over him could even have been nominated for a top legal position.

As you can imagine, the reactions were occasionally NSFW – as, it is alleged, is Gaetz.

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