Topline

Former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., resigned from his position in the House of Representatives last week after President-elect Donald Trump selected him as attorney general — but Gaetz withdrew as a candidate Thursday, leaving the future of the right-wing rioter remained questionable.

Key facts

This story is current and will be updated.

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Crucial quote

After Gaetz withdrew, Trump posted on Truth Social that Gaetz was “doing very well, but at the same time did not want to be a distraction to the government, for which he has great respect.” Trump continued: “Matt has a bright future, and I look forward to seeing all the great things he will do!”

Could Matt Gaetz run for his own seat in the House of Representatives?

Gaetz — who won reelection in his Florida congressional district with 66.3% of the vote — could likely run again for his own seat in a special election. Jonathan Hanson, a professor at the University of Michigan’s Ford School of Public Policy, told Forbes that he believes Gaetz would have no problem running for office again because there is nothing in Florida law that prohibits the person who has left the seat is prohibited from being nominated for a party. a special election.

When will elections be held for Gaetz’s seat?

Florida law does not explicitly provide a timeline for filling a vacancy, although House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said after Gaetz’s resignation that in Florida there is “approximately an eight-week period to select and fill a vacant seat” and he was hopeful that Gaetz’s absence could be filled by January 3, when the next Congress is sworn in.

Could Ron Desantis appoint Matt Gaetz to the Senate?

“Senator Gaetz” was trending on X, formerly known as Twitter, within minutes of Gaetz announcing he was removing himself from consideration for attorney general. One seat in the Florida Senate will likely be open for nomination by DeSantis, as Trump announced he is nominating Sen. Marco Rubio as Secretary of State. DeSantis could technically appoint Gaetz to that seat since he currently has no role in Congress, but DeSantis said Monday that he has “already received strong interest from several potential candidates, and we continue to gather names of additional candidates and conduct preliminary searches .” He said screening will continue in the coming weeks and he expects a selection to take place in early January.

What will happen to the House Ethics Report?

It’s not clear. The House of Representatives Ethics Committee deadlocked Wednesday over whether the highly sought-after report on its investigation into whether Gaetz engaged in sexual misconduct and other allegations would be released. The report was able to be made public despite the committee not voting because two Democratic representatives filed a “privileged” resolution to force the release of the report. However, with Gaetz out of the running for attorney general, it is unclear whether other lawmakers will continue to push for the report’s contents to be made public. Hanson told Forbes that if Gaetz is re-elected to fill his own vacant seat, the push to vacate it could continue. “It is not clear exactly what the Ethics Commission will do, but any return by Gaetz to Congress exposes him to the possibility that the case against him will proceed,” he said.

Important background

Gaetz was recognized as one of Trump’s more controversial nominations for his Cabinet, with some Republican senators criticizing the choice. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, said she doesn’t think Trump’s pick is “a serious nomination for attorney general,” and Rep. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, responded: “Are you of the opinion that I?” when asked about the nomination, according to HuffPost. Gaetz began serving in Congress in 2017 and identified himself as a die-hard Trump supporter, backing the then-president’s claims that the 2020 election was stolen and invoking a Proud Boys slogan in support of Trump. Gaetz became the subject of a Justice Department sexual misconduct investigation over allegations that he had sex as a minor and violated sex trafficking laws by paying for sex, although it ultimately declined to prosecute him. The House Ethics Committee subsequently investigated Gaetz over the matter, and also investigated him for illegal drug use, accepting inappropriate gifts and granting special privileges to friends. Gaetz has denied all allegations.

Read more

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