Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla,, has resigned from Congress, hours after he was nominated as attorney general in President-elect Donald Trump’s administration — and days before a House Ethics Committee was due to release a “highly damaging” report on him.
Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., announced Gaetz’s resignation in a press conference Wednesday night.
“He issued his resignation letter effective immediately from Congress. That caught us by surprise a little bit,” Johnson said, as Politico reported. His resignation was effective immediately.
It is believed Gaetz resigned to stave off an ethics report from being made public.
The ethics committee investigated allegations, including sexual misconduct, illicit drug use, obstruction of an investigation against Gaetz, per a report in Mediaite.
In 2023, the Department of Justice decided not to bring charges against Gaetz after the department investigated the charges leveled against him.
Now that he has stepped down from Congress, any report from the House committee will not be made public.
Jake Sherman of Punchbowl News posted on X, formerly Twitter, that the committee was on the brink of voting on whether to release the report, which was deemed “highly damaging.”
“Rep. Matt Gaetz’s (R-Fla.) resignation from Congress came two days before the House Ethics Committee was set to vote on releasing a ‘highly damaging’ report outlining its investigation into the Republican, according to multiple sources familiar with the probe,” Sherman wrote. “The committee planned to vote Friday on releasing the report. Ethics loses its jurisdiction over Gaetz when he leaves Congress. The secretive panel has been investigating Gaetz on and off since 2021.”
Gaetz, who repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, was not in attendance Wednesday when Republicans elected their leadership for the next legislative season, Politico reported.
Johnson claimed Gaetz’s quick departure was to help get his replacement in Congress should his nomination for AG pass the muster.
Johnson said he spoke with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis Wednesday and said due to Gaetz’s early resignation his seat could possibly be filled as early as Jan. 3, the day when the House is set to elect a speaker.
Gaetz, who was first elected to Congress in 2016, and has been a Trump supporter.
He is the third Republican member of the House Trump has picked to a position in his upcoming administration, per Mediaite.
Republicans in both chambers have doubted Gaetz’s chances of becoming AG, Politico reported.
“I don’t think Matt cares if he gets confirmed — everybody is talking about him … so for Matt this is a win,” Rep. Max Miller (R-Ohio) said.
Miller added that Gaetz “ran around here last term like a six year old with a loaded revolver and a happy trigger finger.”
