Former U.S. Rep Matt Gaetz (R-FL) will not return to Congress after withdrawing as President-elect Donald Trump’s attorney general nominee.
Gaetz resigned from the 118th Congress but could still technically be sworn into the 119th and return to his seat after winning reelection earlier this month. But on Friday, he told Turning Point USA Founder Charlie Kirk he would not be a member of the next Congress, which takes over in January.
“I’m still going to be in the fight, but it’s going to be from a new perch. I do not intend to join the 119th Congress,” Gaetz told Kirk on Real America Voices’s The Charlie Kirk Show.
“There are a number of fantastic Floridians who’ve stepped up to run for my seat, people who have inspired with their heroism, with their public service, and I’m actually excited to see Northwest Florida go to new heights and have great representation,” he added.
Gaetz emphasized that he would continue to fight for Trump and the MAGA movement.
“I’m going to be doing whatever he asks of me, as I always have. But I think that eight years is probably enough time in the United States Congress,” he said.
Gaetz and Kirk also discussed the House Ethics Committee report on Gaetz, and the effect that had in the former congressman’s decision to bow out of consideration.
Gaetz said that the report’s allegations were from “sources that [Attorney General] Merrick Garland’s DOJ [Department of Justice] had already deemed not credible.”
He also said he could have taken on a months-long confirmation fight and answered all questions about the matter, but Trump needs an attorney general who can hit the ground running on day one.
“I could have answered all those questions. I could have engaged in a months-long fact battle, but we don’t have months to go through that,” he said.
“We got to have an A.G. ready to go, day one, to implement the immigration agenda and work on the other key policy, deregulatory objectives of the president,” he said.
Trump has selected former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi as his pick to lead the Justice Department now that Gaetz has pulled himself as the nominee.
Gaetz praised Bondi and predicted she would have a smooth confirmation process.
“My good friend Pam Bondi is going to be a phenomenal attorney general for Donald Trump. She has the legal acumen. She hates criminals. She is a bright legal mind and a fellow Floridian,” Gaetz said.
“Pam Bondi’s confirmation won’t have some of the sharp edges that mine would have. It won’t take the same long process,” he went on to add. “So A.G. Bondi will be able to start implementing those Trump policies right away, so we’re ready on day one.”
