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Donald Trump’s pick for US attorney general, Matt Gaetz, said Thursday he is withdrawing his nomination amid debate over allegations of sexual misconduct and drug use. Gaetz would have led the US Department of Justice in the role.
“It is clear that my confirmation was unfairly becoming a distraction to the critical work of the Trump/Vance Transition,” Gaetz wrote. “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.”
The Justice Department had previously investigated Gaetz for alleged sex trafficking, although it brought no charges. He was also under scrutiny by the House Ethics Committee, which prepared a report on the former Florida congressman’s various allegations, but has not released it publicly.
However, a hacker who appeared to have obtained at least some of the documents in the ethics report revealed Gaetz had made several payments to women around the time of the allegations.
The attorney of some of the women interviewed by the House committee later told reporters that Gaetz had paid his clients for sex and that one had witnessed the former congressman having sex with a minor — but the attorney said he believes Gaetz did not know the woman was a minor.
Gaetz has denied all the allegations.
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The woman who says she had sex with Gaetz when she was 17 told the House Ethics Committee that she had two sexual encounters with him at a 2017 party, CNN reported Thursday.
Gaetz backed out from the nomination less than an hour after CNN reached out to him for comment on Thursday.
Some names already being floated inside the Trump team to replace Gaetz include Todd Blanche, who is the current nominee for deputy attorney general, and Andrew Bailey, the attorney general of Missouri, Semafor’s Shelby Talcott reported.
Trump considers the attorney general as perhaps the most important member of his cabinet, Semafor previously reported, because the DOJ head will be tasked with overseeing some of his key campaign promises, including mass deportations and prosecutions against those who Trump believes have wronged him.