According to insiders, the charm offensive went well.
Matt Gaetz spent Wednesday in Washington, DC, where newly elected Vice President JD Vance met with 10 key Republican senators he would need to secure his confirmation as Donald Trump’s controversial attorney general.
“The feedback from the senators at the meetings was very positive,” said a source close to Vance.
And a day earlier, Trump had made it clear that he had no plan B when it came to a test of strength. “No,” he told a reporter when asked if he was reconsidering his choice.
But it all happened in spectacular fashion on Thursday, when Gaetz announced he was withdrawing amid fallout from a federal sex trafficking investigation.
Neither Gaetz nor Trump are known for bowing to negative headlines or public outrage.
But sources close to Trump said it was becoming increasingly clear that Gaetz was unlikely to make it through the Senate confirmation process with the first wave of appointments. If at all.
“At best, this would be complicated and drag on until February or March,” the source said. “And a strong AG is central to everything Trump wants to tackle on day one… immigration, overhauling the DOJ….”
Matt Gaetz was on Capitol Hill on Wednesday for what insiders described as “introductory meetings” with key Republican senators who would decide whether to confirm him as Donald Trump’s US attorney general.
He was accompanied by newly elected Vice President JD Vance. It was all over a day later, after Gaetz announced he would no longer consider his name
Trump didn’t push him out, but on Thursday morning the president-elect laid out the political and numerical realities.
Between the rallies on the Hill and Trump’s own appeals to senators, Gaetz still didn’t get the votes he needed.
“They spoke and Trump made it clear he couldn’t move the votes in the direction they needed,” said a source familiar with the call.
“Gaetz’s decision came next.”
The choice illustrated how Trump goes about building his cabinet. Gaetz has been a robust, loyal mouthpiece for the former president, and his promise to disrupt the Justice Department was enough to transcend questions about a lack of relevant experience, at least in Trump’s eyes.
It also made him a target.
Democrats pushed hard for the release of a House ethics investigation into allegations of misconduct.
Gaetz has always denied any wrongdoing, including claims that he had sex with a 17-year-old woman in 2017.
But in a sign that the allegations had the potential to become a drip, drip, drip of uncomfortable headlines, another shoe was about to drop.
Gaetz made his announcement Thursday, saying he didn’t want to be a “distraction.”
Gaetz takes a selfie with Trump after the State of the Union address on January 30, 2018
said CNN Thursday morning, it contacted Gaetz with details of a second sexual encounter with the 17-year-old, this time involving a second woman. He was asked for a response.
A day earlier, the New York Times published more lurid headlines about drug-fueled sex parties.
Shortly after requesting comment, Gaetz made his decision public. He called Vance ahead of time to thank him for his efforts and to let him know the deposition was coming.
“There is no time to waste on a needlessly protracted scuffle in Washington, so I will be withdrawing my name from serving as attorney general,” Gaetz wrote on the social media platform X.
“Trump’s DOJ must be in place and ready on Day 1.”
Time is of the essence for Trump, who is embarking on a one-term presidency. He has made it clear that he wants to push his agenda from his first day back in office.
And Gaetz had reportedly done the math and concluded that there were at least four Republicans in the Senate who were adamant in their opposition to him: Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Susan Collins of Maine, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and newly elected John Curtis of Utah , according to the New York Times.
Some Republican senators breathed a sigh of relief that a long-running confirmation saga had been averted.
Sen. Markwayne Mullin, who has clashed with Gaetz in the past but had sounded more positive after Wednesday’s meetings, said: I think given the reports that came out, it was probably a good decision.”
Trump announced former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi as his pick later Thursday
Trump must now find a new attorney general and Gaetz will have to find a new job
Gaetz last week at Mar-a-Lago during a reception for the America First Policy Institute
Collins said Gaetz had “put country first.”
It means Trump will have to go back to the drawing board in his search for an attorney general. Insiders said he was unimpressed by his meetings with state agents and lawyers from big companies who didn’t have the disruptor mentality he wanted.
He spent Thursday with advisers at his Mar-a-Lago home as he put the finishing touches to his Cabinet.
Within hours, he had announced Pam Bondi, the former attorney general of Florida, as his new choice.
Seasoned Trump observers said dropping Gaetz was the only way out.
“They have a limited amount of political capital, and this would have been a lot to take on right at the start of the administration,” said Carl Domino, a former member of the Florida House of Representatives, who predicted Gaetz would spend hours should withdraw before the elections. announcement came.
“This was inevitable.”