What just happened with Matt Gaetz?
Trump's nominee for AG just went down in flames. Was this a planned flameout or a complete farce on the part of Trump's transition team?
I’m sure you’ve all heard by now that Matt Gaetz withdrew his nomination for Attorney General today. Gaetz was a bold choice on Trump’s part, and his nomination surprised a lot of people, including me.
So what just happened? Why did Gaetz withdraw?
As far as I can tell, it has something to do with the House Ethics Committee report on what is supposedly sexual shenanigans and drug use. Gaetz was very quick to resign his congressional seat, and it made me think he was trying to forestall the release of that report. I do not know what is in that report, but perhaps Gaetz thought that resigning would prevent it from being a problem for his AG nomination? 🤔
Just as an aside, I find it hilarious that there is even such a thing as the “House Ethics Committee” when they are all liars and criminals anyway. Also, the Senate itself is full of scumbags that have skeletons in their closets, so who the hell are they to look down on Gaetz’ antics? 😂 🙄
Despite his resignation, it is still possible for Gaetz to retake his congressional seat, according to the NY Post:
Gaetz resigned from the lame-duck 118th Congress immediately after Trump announced his choice of the lawmaker as AG Nov. 13.
In his resignation letter, Gaetz told House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) that he does “not intend” to take his seat in the 119th Congress, which convenes Jan. 3 — though there is always the possibility that he could change his mind.
DeSantis has yet to call a special election to replace either Gaetz or Rep. Mike Waltz, who was chosen to be Trump’s national security adviser.
If Gaetz chose to do so, he could run in any special election to fill his former seat in the remaining days of the 118th Congress — and then take his seat Jan. 3 as the duly elected representative of Florida’s 1st District.
However, if Gaetz does decide he wants to return to the national legislature, he will have to contend with the ethics probe into allegations of sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, among other transgressions.
Gaetz resigned two days before the Ethics Committee was due to vote on releasing its report, which has yet to be finalized — though the panel could still vote to release it at a scheduled meeting Dec. 5.
Gaetz’s withdrawal came after he was privy to an informal whip count showing he had “no path” to getting confirmed by the Senate, one source told The Post.
It is also possible that Governor DeSantis could choose Gaetz to take the Senate seat being vacated by Marco Rubio. However, it appears that Lara Trump is lobbying to get that senate seat, and I doubt Donald Trump would take Gaetz’ side in that conflict. Trump is very likely to be pushing hard for Lara Trump to be picked as Rubio’s replacement.
Personally, I’d love to see DeSantis put Gaetz into Rubio’s senate seat. It would be a great “FUCK YOU!” to the pretentious fops in the Senate like Susan Collins. Oh, you don’t want Matt Gaetz as Attorney General? No problem; now he’s one of your colleagues, and you can deal with him every day in the United States Senate. I hope he makes your time there as miserable as possible. You corrupt, depraved assholes. 🖕🏻
Let’s forget about Gaetz’ future for now. The larger issue here is why Trump nominated him in the first place. Did no one on Trump’s team have any inkling about the House Ethics Committee report? Did none of them have a clue beforehand that Gaetz would be a very heavy lift in terms of getting him confirmed?
I know some people saying that this is all part of a larger plan by Trump and his people. If that is the case, then what is their next move? Was Gaetz’ nomination designed to draw fire and expose who is and is not on Team Trump in the Senate? I really do not know what is going on with these people.
Either it’s 4D chess or Gaetz’ nomination was just a sloppy mistake on the part of Trump and his transition team. We will likely have to wait and see who Trump picks next for Attorney General. He desperately needs someone who will go after the Deep State and begin prosecuting as many of those criminals as possible. Gaetz certainly had the potential to do that, but with him out of the way, who is to be the next AG?
The Post had this to say about possible contenders for the AG job:
Missouri’s AG Andrew Bailey, who has made his name on high-profile litigation against the Biden administration‘s student debt cancellation and mass migrant flights into the US, as well as big tech companies‘ collusion with federal agencies to suppress free speech, was rumored before the Gaetz nomination to be on Trump’s shortlist, according to GOP insiders.
Less than an hour after the news broke, Bailey increased speculation by posting on X: “Big announcement coming. I will always fight for Missourians’ right to keep and bear arms.”
One source revealed that Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton had also impressed the 45th president by being one of the first prosecutors to file a suit alleging election interference after Joe Biden’s victory in 2020.
The suit alleged that the swing states of Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin had all unconstitutionally changed voting procedures without legislative approval.
“I think that Trump probably feels a lot of gratitude,” the source said of the move, while indicating that litigation would likely pose a challenge to Paxton getting through the confirmation process.
Sources close to Trump have also suggested that he could plausibly elevate his deputy attorney general-designate, Todd Blanche, to the DOJ’s top spot, or his solicitor general-designate, John Sauer.
I am not familiar enough with any of these people to know if they have the balls to go after the Deep State or if they are all cut from the same cloth as Jeff Sessions, Trump’s disastrous pick in his first term. If I had to choose right now, I’d pick Bailey or Paxton. Whoever it is had better understand in advance that they have to have a killer instinct if they are to clean up the DOJ and begin the destruction of the Deep State scum that have infested the federal government.
But what does all this mean for RFK Junior, Tulsi Gabbard, and the rest of Trump’s nominees? They are all likely to come under fire too, particularly Pete Hegseth, who has been under his own cloud of sexual misbehavior charges. We will have to wait to see what happens with the rest of them.
I had hoped for smoother sailing this time around for Trump’s nominees, but you can see from all of this what scumbags the Senate Republicans are and why no change ever happens in the imperial capital. These useless assholes block anyone who would go after the Deep State, while allowing Deep State sympathizers to sail through the Senate with no problems whatsoever. 🙄
Keep your fingers crossed that Trump’s next AG pick is a killer with no sexual or drug use scandals lurking in his background. Without a strong AG, there will be no justice for what the Deep State scum did to all of us over the last eight years. 🤞🏻
UPDATE: Mediaite has a story suggesting that new details of Gaetz screwing around with a 17-year-old girl in a threesome are what caused him to withdraw. Note that the age of consent in Florida is 18. Next time, check her ID, Matt. 🙄
Reid reported on how the story unfolded on Inside Politics, telling anchor Dana Bash that Gaetz announced his withdrawal just before she was about to go on air to report on the story, and that she and CNN Capitol Hill reporter Sarah Ferris had just finalized their reporting “that the Ethics Committee had been informed of a second sexual encounter between Gaetz and the woman, who was just 17 years old at the time.”
According to Reid, this woman “had said the same thing consistently in a civil deposition,” and she and Ferris reached out to Gaetz’s team shepherding him through the nomination process to give them “the opportunity to weigh in.”
“They asked us to give them an hour. We did,” said Reid, explaining that they had told Gaetz’s team they would go live at 12:30 pm, “and about a moment before I was supposed to come on air and share the new reporting…we didn’t get a statement from Gaetz, and instead we got the statement saying that he was withdrawing as the attorney general pick.”
Reid summarized what the new reporting was that “the woman who is at the center of these allegations that he had sex with a minor, has told the ethics committee that when she was just 17, she had not one but two sexual encounters with Gaetz at a party in Florida. And that that sexual second encounter involved an adult woman.”
UPDATE 2: It’s Pam Bondi!
President-elect Donald Trump went from one Floridian to another Thursday, announcing that former Sunshine State Attorney General Pam Bondi would be his new pick to lead the Justice Department, hours after former nominee Matt Gaetz withdrew his name from consideration.
“For too long, the partisan Department of Justice has been weaponized against me and other Republicans – Not anymore,” Trump, 78, said in a statement on Truth Social. “Pam will refocus the DOJ to its intended purpose of fighting Crime, and Making America Safe Again. I have known Pam for many years — She is smart and tough, and is an AMERICA FIRST Fighter, who will do a terrific job as Attorney General!”
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UPDATE: Mediaite has a story suggesting that new details of Gaetz screwing around with a 17-year-old girl in a threesome are what caused him to withdraw. Note that the age of consent in Florida is 18. Next time, check her ID, Matt. 🙄
https://www.mediaite.com/news/gaetz-dropped-out-after-cnn-inquiry-about-new-allegation-involving-threesome-with-17-year-old/
Here is the story from Mediaite:
"Reid reported on how the story unfolded on Inside Politics, telling anchor Dana Bash that Gaetz announced his withdrawal just before she was about to go on air to report on the story, and that she and CNN Capitol Hill reporter Sarah Ferris had just finalized their reporting “that the Ethics Committee had been informed of a second sexual encounter between Gaetz and the woman, who was just 17 years old at the time.”
According to Reid, this woman “had said the same thing consistently in a civil deposition,” and she and Ferris reached out to Gaetz’s team shepherding him through the nomination process to give them “the opportunity to weigh in.”
“They asked us to give them an hour. We did,” said Reid, explaining that they had told Gaetz’s team they would go live at 12:30 pm, “and about a moment before I was supposed to come on air and share the new reporting…we didn’t get a statement from Gaetz, and instead we got the statement saying that he was withdrawing as the attorney general pick.”
Reid summarized what the new reporting was that “the woman who is at the center of these allegations that he had sex with a minor, has told the ethics committee that when she was just 17, she had not one but two sexual encounters with Gaetz at a party in Florida. And that that sexual second encounter involved an adult woman.”
UPDATE 2: IT'S PAM BONDI AS GAETZ REPLACEMENT!
https://nypost.com/2024/11/21/us-news/trump-picks-former-florida-ag-to-replace-matt-gaetz/
I am by no means a “trust the plan” type, but I am open to the idea that this was a ploy on the part of Trump to send up a trial balloon nomination to get wet noodle GOPers to self-identify. Perhaps this will pave the way for a Ken Paxton AG, or the Missouri fellow. I have to believe that Trump and his people learned something over the last 8 years that was filled with deception, lawfare, and sabotage.