Matt Gaetz withdraws his bid for attorney general amid sexual misconduct allegations

Former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., on Thursday announced that he would withdraw his name from consideration to be President-elect Donald Trump’s attorney general.

Gaetz’s path was mired by a series of allegations of sexual misconduct, including sex with a minor. On Thursday, NBC News learned from a source familiar that the House Ethics Committee, which had been investigating Gaetz, was told that a 17-year-old girl had two sexual encounters with the Florida Republican at a 2017 party.

The description of the second encounter was included in her testimony to the House Ethics Committee as well as a deposition in a related civil lawsuit. The second sexual encounter included another adult woman, according to a source familiar. 

CNN was the first to report on the new allegations.

“It is clear that my confirmation was unfairly becoming a distraction to the critical work of the Trump/Vance Transition,” Gaetz wrote in a post on X.

“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. Trump’s DOJ must be in place and ready on Day 1,” Gaetz added.

In a post on TruthSocial, Trump praised Gaetz and said he had been doing “very well” in the confirmation process.

“I greatly appreciate the recent efforts of Matt Gaetz in seeking approval to be Attorney General. He was doing very well but, at the same time, did not want to be a distraction for the Administration, for which he has much respect. Matt has a wonderful future, and I look forward to watching all of the great things he will do!” the president-elect wrote.

Gaetz, whom Trump named last week as his pick for AG, was also investigated by the Justice Department — the department he would have led if confirmed — related to allegations of sex trafficking and sex with a minor. Gaetz has vehemently denied those allegations and the investigation ended with the Justice Department electing not to charge Gaetz.

He resigned from his position in the House last week, effectively ending the House Ethics Committee investigation into him.

The committee had been looking into the allegations against Gaetz on and off since 2021. Committee members met Wednesday to discuss whether to release the report on their investigation but did not come to an agreement.

It’s unclear what the Ethics panel will do now that Gaetz has withdrawn. Its members are meeting again on Dec. 5 when they will further discuss the matter. 

At its closed-door July 23 meeting, House Ethics Committee staff told Chairman Michael Guest that a draft report on its sexual misconduct investigation into Gaetz was far enough along that it could be circulated to all committee members, according to meeting transcripts obtained by NBC News.

Members and staff had gathered that day to depose Gaetz himself but he never showed.

“So is there anybody else or anything outstanding that would slow down us being able to get a report out?” Guest asked staff, according to the transcripts.

“The report, I think, could be circulated to the committee members as soon as you and the ranking member give your feedback. It can always be added to as new information comes in,” the Ethics investigations director responded to Guest. “But there is a draft ready that predicted the outcome of this deposition and doesn’t need much of anything on that front.”

“It looks like we are finally getting to the end,” Guest added, according to the transcripts. 

Matt Gaetz worked at a private law practice before running for public office.

Several House Democrats had called for the report to be released publicly. Some Senate Republicans, who would have had to vote on Gaetz’s confirmation, publicly expressed their interest in viewing the report as part of the confirmation process.

Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance maintained their firm support of Gaetz, with Trump even “heavily working the phones” to drum up support for Gaetz.

Vance had been on Capitol Hill Thursday morning setting up meetings between senators and another controversial pick, Pete Hegseth for defense secretary, but he left the Capitol shortly before Gaetz made his announcement. Hegseth also faces misconduct allegations, which he has denied.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., who has opposed the public release of the ethics report on Gaetz, also left the building before the Florida Republican’s news broke; he and the House won’t return until after the Thanksgiving recess.

Senators from both sides of the aisle have expressed skepticism that he would get enough votes to be confirmed.

After meeting with Gaetz on Wednesday, Sens. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, and John Cornyn, R-Texas, told NBC News that the subject of the allegations arose.

Ernst said that Gaetz brought up the allegations himself during their conversation.

“He was very forthcoming, but that’s all I’m going to say because he will go through a very fair confirmation process with Senator Grassley, and I think a lot of this will get flushed out then,” Ernst added. “I’m just reserving judgment.”

Earlier this week, a lawyer for two women who allege that Gaetz paid them for sex detailed some of their testimony to the House Ethics Committee, including one who said she witnessed Gaetz having sex with a 17-year-old.

The attorney, Joel Leppard, told NBC News that his clients did not want to publicly come forward but had testified in front of the House Ethics Committee last year.

Leppard said his clients supported the House Ethics Committee publicly releasing their report.

Gaetz in his resignation said he would not take oath in new Congress. “I do not intend to take the oath of office for the same office in the 119th Congress to pursue the position of Attorney General in the Trump administration,” he said.

It’s unclear what his decision to pull his name out of consideration for Trump’s Cabinet means for his congressional seat. 

This story first appeared on NBCNews.com. More from NBC News: