Matt Gaetz said he was the victim of a “smear campaign” that dredged up old and discredited allegations in his first interview since withdrawing his name from consideration as Donald Trump’s attorney general.
He sensationally quit Thursday amid a drip, drip, drip of accusations from a House Ethics Committee investigation into allegations that he had sex with an underage girl.
“If the things in the House Ethics report were true, I would be indicted and probably in a jail cell,” he told The Charlie Kirk Showaccording to clips shared exclusively with DailyMail.com.
“But of course they are false, because when you test them against other documents, when you test them against other testimonies, it all falls apart very quickly.”
He said he was the victim of a politically motivated campaign over his key role in removing Kevin McCarthy as Speaker of the House of Representatives.
And he insisted that he could have answered all the allegations during his confirmation hearings, but the process would have dragged on, undermining Trump’s plans to begin his overhaul of the government on day one.
The interview will be released Friday at noon.
He also said his replacement, former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, would be “phenomenal” in the role.
Matt Gaetz was interviewed by Charlie Kirk on Friday morning, a day after he withdrew his name for consideration as Trump’s attorney general
And he has no plans to return to Congress.
Instead, he said he would now work to recruit the talent that would help shore up the Trump administration.
Gaetz was a controversial choice from the start. His resume lacked legal experience and he had been investigated by the department he was asked to lead.
He has always denied the accusation.
“There’s a play that’s being staged in Washington where they’re trying to smear someone and, you know, they’re going to dredge up false, years-old accusations about the most salacious and clickbait, and taste possible. And in this case it was,” he said.
“These allegations came from sources that Merrick Garland’s DOJ already deemed not credible.”
However, he faced a politically motivated body, he continued, because he initiated the process that ousted McCarthy last year.
“They were all hand-picked by Kevin McCarthy, and they had an ax to grind,” he said.
‘So that would at least be sufficient basis to postpone my appointment as attorney general.
Gaetz said he was the victim of a “politically motivated” plot over his role in removing Rep. Kevin McCarthy as Speaker of the House of Representatives last year
Gaetz pictured last week at a reception at Mar-a-Lago
Trump moved quickly on Thursday to appoint a replacement for Gaetz in the form of former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi
“And I could have answered all those questions. I could have had a months-long factual battle, but we don’t have months to go through that.
“We need an AG. ready to get to work on day one to implement the immigration agenda and work on the President’s other key deregulatory policy goals.”
He said he was encouraged by the meetings on the Hill Wednesday, where he met with key senators who would help guide his nomination.
But he ultimately announced he would drop out late Thursday morning. Trump moved quickly on Thursday to name a replacement for Gaetz.
The former Florida congressman said Bondi would be ready to go to work on day one.
“My good friend Pam Bondi is going to be a phenomenal attorney general for Donald Trump,” he said.
‘She has legal insight. She hates criminals. She is a bright legal mind and a fellow Floridian.
“So I think that even though the path will take me to a different position in life and a different place to fight for our agenda and President Trump, we have a great person in place.”
Gaetz added that he was willing to serve Trump however he wanted.
“I’m still going to compete, but it will be from a new position,” he said.
“I have no intention of participating in the 119th Congress. There are some amazing people from Florida who have run for my seat, people who have inspired me with their heroism, with their public service.”