Four Republican senators remained steadfastly opposed to Matt Gaetz’s nomination to lead the Justice Department after meeting the former Florida lawmaker.
Gaetz announced Thursday that he is withdrawing his bid for attorney general amid allegations of sexual misconduct.
The former congressman already faced steep odds of getting confirmed and could only lose 4 votes in the 53-47 Republican controlled Senate since every Democrat planned to oppose his nomination.
According to the New York Times, Gaetz, who met with Senate Republicans on Wednesday, left Capitol Hill believing that four GOP lawmakers in the upper chamber were implacably opposed to his nomination.
These senators are: Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Susan Collins of Maine, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and John Curtis of Utah.
In a statement announcing his withdrawal from consideration as attorney general, Gaetz said “it is clear that my confirmation was unfairly becoming a distraction to the critical work of the Trump/Vance Transition.”
“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,” he continued. “Trump’s DOJ must be in place and ready on Day 1.”
Gaetz had been investigated for alleged sex trafficking by the Justice Department and by the House Ethics Committee for alleged sexual misconduct, illicit drug use, inappropriate relationships with underage girls, and other claims. He has denied any wrongdoing
Gaetz’s withdrawal came minutes after he was told that CNN would be reporting that a woman told the House Ethics Committee that she had two sexual encounters with him at a party in 2017 when she was 17-years-old.
The woman testified that the second sexual encounter, which has not previously been reported, included another adult woman.
On Wednesday Republicans on the Ethics committee voted to block the release of the report.
