Ding-dong, the witch is dead. Or at least probably gone for a while.
Former Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz told fellow right-wing troll Charlie Kirk on Friday that he doesn't plan to return to Congress in January, despite winning reelection earlier this month.
“I’m still going to be in the fight, but it’s going to be from a new perch,” Gaetz told Kirk. “I do not intend to join the 119th Congress.”
Gaetz resigned from Congress eight days ago, hours after Donald Trump nominated him for attorney general. The move was widely considered to be Gaetz’s effort to stop the House Ethics Committee from releasing a report on allegations that he had sex with a minor at a drug-fueled party. The report, based on a yearslong probe into Gaetz’s conduct, was expected to be damning.
Republicans on the committee ultimately decided to protect Gaetz by voting against releasing the report.
Yet the fact that the report was out there and that Gaetz faced child sex trafficking allegations in the first place was enough to make him radioactive for Senate Republicans, who refused to support his nomination.
Gaetz ended up pulling his nomination on Thursday, with Trump reportedly telling him that he didn’t have the votes.
Gaetz wrote in a post on X:
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.
After Gaetz withdrew, there were questions about whether he would try to undo his congressional resignation and ask to be sworn in in January for the U.S. House seat he won in November. But now Gaetz has said he won't be doing that.
If he had come back to Congress, the House Ethics Committee probe into the allegations around him would be back on, and the panel would not have an excuse to keep the document private.
As for what Gaetz will do next, we don’t know. Gaetz always seemed more interested in hearing himself talk than his job in Congress, so a job at right-wing propaganda network Fox News would be a good fit.
He could also run for the Florida Senate seat that Marco Rubio will vacate when he’s inevitably confirmed as secretary of state. Or Gaetz could run for Florida governor when Ron DeSantis’ term expires. (DeSantis is term-limited and cannot run again.)
For now, Gaetz is enjoying unemployment. At least that’s what his wife—yes, he actually has a wife who has stood by him amid the reports of his vile behavior—is saying.
“Unemployment has never looked so good,” Ginger Gaetz wrote in a post on X, accompanied by a photo of Gaetz looking off into the distance.
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