Gaetz House Resignation Catches Speaker by Surprise

Donald Trump made a shocking announcement this week, nominating Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) as his attorney general.

Gaetz responded by immediately resigning his seat, which caught Speaker Johnson (R-LA) completely off guard.

The Nomination

I have covered my top picks for this position several times already, and you could have allowed me to name 100 people as possible picks, and I still would not have had Gaetz on that list.

I have characterized Gaetz as a bit of a clown who could care less about legislating and seems more concerned with being a social media star than anything else.

He rarely, if ever, gets legislation to become law, yet Donald Trump still nominated him for Attorney General, foregoing a list of far more qualified candidates. In doing so, Trump stated, “Few issues in America are more important than ending the partisan Weaponization of our Justice System.

“Matt will end Weaponized Government, protect our Borders, dismantle Criminal Organizations and restore Americans’ badly-shattered Faith and Confidence in the Justice Department.”

The Investigation

I am not sure, but I think I may have figured this all out. Gaetz is currently under investigation by the House Ethics Committee, which was scheduled to meet on Friday to decide whether to make public the report on Gaetz.

Gaetz has been accused of sexual misconduct with an underage girl, possible sex trafficking, and the use of illicit drugs.

Gaetz resigned his seat, which he did not have to do until the nomination was approved, but the fact that he did resign his seat means the investigation was halted by the Ethics Committee, or so Gaetz thinks.

There is now significant pressure on the committee to release the report, at least to the Senate, so they can use it to vet Gaetz for AG.

Surprise Resignation

As noted above, Gaetz immediately resigned his seat, which caught Speaker Johnson unprepared. Gaetz explained that he did this so that Governor DeSantis could replace him before the next session began.

Johnson then commented on the Ethics Committee report, stating, “I’m going to strongly request that the ethics committee not issue the report, because that is not the way we do things in the House. And I think that would be a terrible precedent to set.”

I completely disagree. If this man is going to be the top cop in the land, he needs to be thoroughly vetted because the last thing we need is a compromised AG. But that is also making a big leap that Gaetz will pass confirmation, which I don’t believe will happen.

My take on this is that Trump nominated Gaetz to give him a reason to resign his seat, knowing full well that it is unlikely that Gaetz will be confirmed. Once the nomination fizzles out, I think Trump will find another spot in the administration for Gaetz, something that does not require Senate confirmation.