After a short couple of weeks since President-elect Trump announced Congressman Matt Gaetz would be nominated to serve as his new Attorney General, the ride is already over.
Gaetz took to X today where he posted a short blurb explaining that while he’d like to serve and support Trump, he doesn’t want to become a distraction:
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.
President-elect Trump also followed up thanking Gaetz for his loyalty and willingness to serve:
Thank you President Trump! 🇺🇸 https://t.co/P8ey92elYH
— Matt Gaetz (@mattgaetz) November 21, 2024
So, what happened?
Gaetz was already a longshot based purely on the normal course of Washington. He’s not in “the club,” so to speak, which means he’s starting from a disadvantage in terms of easy Senate confirmation votes.
Despite a rally of support from some big names in Trump world, it seems Gaetz couldn’t overcome possible defections from Senate Republicans:
As for these accusations against him, I consider them worth less than nothing. Under our laws, a man is considered innocent until proven guilty.
If AG Garland (an unprincipled douchebag) could have secured a conviction against Gaetz, he would have, but he knew he could not.…
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 19, 2024
On paper, Gaetz did face some pretty damning accusations but they were never proven. Furthermore, the Biden Justice Department closed the investigation in 2022 because the witnesses against Gaetz were not deemed credible enough to make an indictment against the Congressman.
What Musk says is correct, Gaetz is being deemed guilty until proven innocent which is not the way the justice system functions.
Sadly, we’ll never get to see the confirmation hearings for Gaetz which were sure to be lit.
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