Matt Gaetz’s Sudden Resignation Sure Makes Him Look Guilty

Shortly after Donald Trump made the shocking announcement to nominate Representative Matt Gaetz for attorney general on Wednesday, House Speaker Mike Johnson announced that Gaetz had already resigned from his congressional seat.

While the Florida representative’s sudden exit may appear to be premature, as Gaetz still needs to be confirmed to the position by the very same Republican senators he pissed off by voting to oust former Speaker Kevin McCarthy last year, it seems that Gaetz had another reason to cut his tenure short.

Gaetz’s resignation came just two days before the House Ethics Committee was set to vote on releasing a report outlining its multiyear investigation into the MAGA Republican over his alleged sexual misconduct and drug use, according to Punchbowl News.

Gaetz’s departing his seat means that the House Ethics panel has lost its jurisdiction over him and must end its investigation. Representative John Rutherford, who sits on the committee, said Thursday that the ethics report “can’t” be released but did not explain why.

The secretive panel has been investigating Gaetz since 2021 over a slew of allegations, including sexual misconduct, sharing inappropriate images or videos on the House floor, and converting campaign funds for personal use.

Gaetz was previously investigated by the Justice Department over allegations that he’d engaged in an inappropriate relationship with a 17-year-old girl and violated sex-trafficking laws, but no charges were ever formally filed against him. Now Gaetz will head the agency that once tried to investigate him.

After Gaetz’s nomination to run the Justice Department was announced Wednesday, many Republicans in Congress were left in a state of shock. Current and former DOJ officials called his pick “insane” and “stunning,” and one person called him “the least qualified person ever nominated for any position in the Department of Justice,” according to NBC News.

Gaetz’s sudden resignation also demonstrates just how serious Trump is about his demand for Senate leadership to approve recess confirmations, which would allow him to appoint Cabinet members without investigation or approval from Congress.

This story has been updated.

Donald Trump is wasting no time making a punch line out of some of his key allies, including Elon Musk.

During his first meeting with Republican lawmakers on the Hill as president-elect, Trump asserted his power over Musk, mocking the tech billionaire for sticking around for so long.

“Elon won’t go home. I can’t get rid of him,” Trump said Wednesday. “Until I don’t like him.”

The world’s richest man has reportedly spent “nearly every single day” of the last week at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, according to CNN. Musk has been spotted golfing with the president-elect, dining with him and his wife, Melania, and has even been in the room while Trump phones world leaders, hopping on calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell argued that Trump’s comments about Musk were an assertion of his dominance, played before a room that has to play along.

“Everyone laughed,” said O’Donnell. “They laughed that uncomfortable laugh. But they laugh when Donald Trump makes a joke about someone on his team, a joke that everyone knows is true, a joke that paints that person as pathetic, as Donald Trump’s personal sense of superiority demands that he do.”

O’Donnell also suggested that Musk’s new role in the government—co-leading a new agency, the Department of Government Efficiency, otherwise known as “DOGE”—is basically a joke in itself, with Musk’s responsibilities being tantamount to a “fake job” with little more power than that of a lobbyist on K Street.

Musk will be the likely benefactor of his extended stay with the president-elect, whose opinion is famously swayed by whomever he last interacted with. But, according to tech journalist Kara Swisher, the relationship between the two self-imagined strongmen is destined to flame out.

“They’re both narcissists, and there can be only one narcissist as head of the country, and that’s Donald Trump who just won the election,” Swisher said on Monday. “You know he owes things to Elon, but at some point, you know if he takes too much of the attention—think about Steve Bannon. You remember he was on the cover of that magazine, and how quickly he got out, even though he was critical to Trump’s first campaign and he was right in the middle of the White House, and then he wasn’t.

“Trump goes through people like tissues, essentially,” Swisher noted. “And even if it’s Musk, they’re going to clash at some point.”

Israel is preparing a cease-fire plan regarding its bombing of Lebanon as a gift to the incoming Donald Trump administration, The Washington Post reports.

The Post reports, citing three Israeli sources, that Ron Dermer, the Israeli minister of strategic affairs, told Trump and his son-in-law Jared Kushner on Sunday that Israel was quickly preparing a cease-fire deal to give the president-elect an early win when he takes office in January. Dermer visited Trump and Kushner on Sunday at the president-elect’s Mar-a-Lago estate before a visit to President Biden at the White House. There is no indication Israel will end its bombing of Lebanon before January.

It’s no secret that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu supported Trump over Kamala Harris, and a quick peace deal would raise suspicions that Netanyahu was holding off ceasing hostilities before the election to help Trump’s prospects. Trump has supported Israel’s brutal bombing campaigns in both Lebanon and Gaza, reportedly telling Netanyahu to “do what you have to do” in a phone call early last month.

In a video statement Sunday, Netanyahu said he had spoken to Trump three times in the preceding days, saying that he saw “major opportunities ahead for Israel, especially in advancing peace.” This is quite a different tack than what Netanyahu has been saying for the past year, as Israeli forces have killed at least 44,383 Palestinians since October 7, 2023, including more than 16,765 children.

Trump made overtures to Arab American communities in Michigan in the weeks leading up to the election, campaigning in Dearborn, the country’s largest Arab-majority city. The move paid off, with Trump winning a majority of voters not only in Dearborn but also in the battleground state of Michigan.

Would a peace deal only covering Lebanon placate those voters? There is no mention of Gaza in the Post’s report, and Netanyahu has not said anything about a forthcoming cease-fire, let alone a peace deal, regarding Israel’s bombing campaign in the territory. But Trump will gladly take anything he can call a win while continuing to enable Netanyahu’s actions.

President-elect Donald Trump surprised Republican lawmakers on Wednesday when he chose Florida Representative Matt Gaetz to serve as his attorney general—including many of the senators needed to push through his confirmation.

The antagonistic, deeply partisan MAGA cheerleader must now earn votes from the same Republicans who reviled him for forcing out Speaker Kevin McCarthy just over a year ago. And it’s not looking like he has a lot of support.

Senator Jon Cornyn reportedly audibly snorted upon hearing news of Gaetz’s nomination. “I don’t know the man other than just his public persona,” he later told Washington Post correspondent Liz Goodwin.

Senator Susan Collins said she was “shocked” by the news of his pick, and Senator Lisa Murkowski said, “This one was not on my Bingo card.” But even Trump’s biggest supporters in the chamber were surprised. “Holy cow,” said Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville, adding that he too did not see this one coming.

Senator Joe Manchin said that “no one could believe it” when the news broke on the Senate floor.

Politico reporter Meridith Lee Hill said she saw a House Republican laughing so hard at the pick that he began crying. When asked if he believed Gaetz has the character and experience needed to be attorney general, GOP Representative Mike Simpson replied, “Are you shittin me, that you just asked that question? No! But hell, you’ll print that and now I’m going to be investigated.”

Gaetz, one of the most outspoken MAGA representatives, has been described by his Republican colleagues in the past as a childish, “disgraceful,” and “vile” person. He is currently under a House ethics investigation for sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, after allegations that he had sex with a minor.

Whether Trump loyalists or Liz Cheney-ites, Republicans throughout Congress were shocked at Trump’s nomination of Gaetz. Perhaps Republican Senator Thom Tillis put it best: “I’m sure it’ll make for a popcorn-eating confirmation.”

This story has been updated.

Donald Trump plans to appoint Representative Matt Gaetz to the post of attorney general, the president-elect announced on Truth Social Wednesday, and the Florida congressman has already gleefully accepted the position.

The news is a surprise, considering that Gaetz was not among the names discussed for the position, which included right-wing activist Mike Davis and Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee who quickly dismissed Trump’s classified documents case.

Gaetz has been a staunch supporter of Trump, showing up to the president-elect’s New York hush-money trial in May and leaping to Trump’s defense in media appearances. But, he also has a questionable reputation, having escaped federal charges over allegations of sexual misconduct with an underage girl.

Gaetz is the target of a House Ethics Committee investigation over those allegations as well as reports of illicit drug use. The Florida representative led the effort to oust former Representative Kevin McCarthy from the House speakership in part because he wished to block the ethics probe. If he were to survive Senate confirmation and become attorney general, the ethics investigation would disappear.

While Gaetz has a law degree as well as an active law license, he does not appear to have any prosecutorial experience, which might be another obstacle in his confirmation process.

Trump will expect his attorney general to protect him from any legal cases or challenges, even though the position actually entails leading the Justice Department as the country’s top law enforcement official. A Republican attorney general will also be tasked with implementing conservative goals, such as implementing the right-wing Project 2025 manifesto.

Gaetz’s lack of prosecutorial experience may doom his chances, and Senate Republicans may not think he is up to the task. Several Republicans are already expressing shock and disapproval including Senators John Cornyn, Charles Grassley, and Susan Collins, among many others. It remains to be seen if Gaetz will win over enough Republican senators to be confirmed, or if the allegations against him will torpedo the nomination.

This story has been updated.