Donald Trump decided to appoint Matt Gaetz as attorney general last Wednesday, during a flight home from Washington, where newly elected President Joe Biden had visited the White House. The choice turned out to be as surprising as it was controversial. Just eight days later, after a week of relentless noise, Gaetz withdrew from the fight.

It was a Washington farce for centuries. But how did it happen?

Gaetz, now 42, made his name as a far-right Florida congressman, a pro-Trump publicity hound and gadfly who made history in October 2023 by taking down a House speaker: Kevin McCarthy, the first ever elected by his own party sent away.

The seeds of Gaetz’s own downfall lay in that extraordinary episode.

Ostensibly, Gaetz moved against McCarthy to install a speaker who was more susceptible to right-wing threats to shut down the federal government over arguments over funding, and who would be less likely to seek Democrats’ help in avoiding such outcomes.

But McCarthy never believed that. He insisted that Gaetz take action against him to block the release of a House Ethics Committee report on allegations of sexual misconduct, illegal drug use and other violations.

Gaetz vehemently denied — and still denies — wrongdoing, but nevertheless, when Trump nominated him for attorney general, he promptly resigned from the House of Representatives. According to precedent, this blocked the release of the ethics report.

The report deservedly became the hottest property in Washington, with journalists chasing it, Democrats and some skeptical Republicans eager to know what it was. It promised sensational reading.

Gaetz was initially investigated by the U.S. Department of Justice in connection with the actions of Joel Greenberg, a Florida tax collector who pleaded guilty in 2021 to sex trafficking of a minor and agreed to cooperate with the investigation into Gaetz.

Ultimately, the justice department stopped that investigation. But the House Ethics Committee had also been investigating Gaetz, and in June it outlined the scope of its work: It was investigating claims that the congressman “may have engaged in sexual misconduct and/or illegal drug use, and inappropriate images or videos had been shared at the House of Representatives. misused government identification information, diverted campaign funds to personal use and/or accepted bribes, improper gratuities or unauthorized gifts.”

Trump’s nomination of Gaetz was controversial for other reasons. There was Gaetz’s vocal support for Trump supporters convicted in connection with the Jan. 6 attack on Congress, and his promises to retaliate against Trump’s political opponents. There was an almost complete lack of legal experience and expertise. He had graduated from law school but practiced only briefly before entering politics.

But in Washington, the ethics committee report remained the holy grail.

Details started to leak. ABC News first reported that the committee obtained records showing Gaetz paid more than $10,000 to two women who testified before the panel, with some of the payments being for sex.

An attorney for two women spoke to the media and said one was 17 years old — under the legal age — when she was paid for sex with Gaetz.

The Trump camp repeatedly pointed to the Justice Department’s decision to drop the investigation into the allegations against Gaetz, without official reason but amid reports of concerns about the credibility of witnesses.

On Wednesday, the House committee deliberated on releasing the report. The session ended in deadlock, with five Democrats in favor of release, five Republicans against. In the House as a whole, Democrats introduced motions calling for a full vote to force the issue.

The controversy switched to the Senate. While Democrats said they had asked the FBI for files on Gaetz, the congressman himself took to Capitol Hill, accompanied by JD Vance, to meet with the vice president-elect’s former Senate colleagues and convince them that Gaetz should be confirmed become.

It didn’t go well. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine, relative Republican moderates already accustomed to saying no to Trump, at least some of the time, were unsupportive.

Gaetz found sympathy from others. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a close Trump ally, said he would “urge all my Senate colleagues, especially Republicans, not to join the lynch mob and give the trial a chance to move forward.” But many other Republicans doubt Gaetz’s chances of being confirmed.

Judiciary Committee member John Cornyn of Texas said any hearing for Gaetz would be like “Kavanaugh on steroids” — a reference to the stormy 2018 hearings in which Brett Kavanaugh, Trump’s second pick for the Supreme Court, angrily dismissed the charges of sexual abuse. In Kavanaugh’s case, the Capitol Hill circus proved controversial but survivable.

But Gaetz wouldn’t get a chance to pull off a similar escape. On Thursday, he said on social media: “There is no time to waste on a needlessly protracted scuffle in Washington, so I will withdraw my name from serving as attorney general.”

CNN subsequently reported that the woman who says she had sex with him when she was a minor told the ethics committee that she had another sexual encounter with Gaetz, which also involved another adult woman.

“After being asked for comment on this story,” the CNN report said, “Gaetz announced he was withdrawing from joining new President Donald Trump as attorney general nominee.”

In that announcement, Gaetz expressed his support for “the most successful president in history” and said he would “forever be honored” that Trump nominated him for attorney general.

Elsewhere in Washington, it seemed, politicians and reporters were reflecting on an extraordinary episode of almost unsurpassed disgrace in Washington.