On November 13th, Donald Trump nominated Matt Gaetz to be his Attorney General. Gaetz resigned from Congress that same day. As it turned out, Gaetz resigned just a few days before the House Ethics Committee was due to release their years-long investigation into Gaetz’s sleazy indecency. The committee heard testimony from some of the women Gaetz paid for sex, and testimony about just how many teenage girls Gaetz abused, solicited, raped and trafficked. On Wednesday, the New York Times released a detailed accounting of just how many women and girls were paid to have sex with Gaetz. Throughout the whole eight-day saga, the Ethics Committee repeatedly refused to release their full report. But all of the detailed reporting on Gaetz’s years of degeneracy began to take its toll – even Republican senators, weeks away from the majority, told Gaetz that his nomination was DOA. So on Thursday, Gaetz formally withdrew.

Matt Gaetz, who faced a torrent of scrutiny over allegations of sex trafficking and drug use, abruptly withdrew his bid to become attorney general on Thursday in the first major political setback for President-elect Donald J. Trump since his election this month.

Mr. Gaetz has consistently denied the allegations, but his prospective nomination ran into trouble in the Senate, where Republicans were deeply reluctant to confirm someone to run the same Justice Department that once investigated him on suspicion of sex trafficking an underage girl, even though no charges were brought.

In announcing his withdrawal a day after visiting the Senate, Mr. Gaetz insisted that he had strong support among fellow Republicans. But two people with direct knowledge of Mr. Gaetz’s thinking said he had made the decision to pull out after concluding that he would not have the votes in the Senate for confirmation. The people asked for anonymity to discuss his private decision-making.

“While the momentum was strong, it is clear that my confirmation was unfairly becoming a distraction to the critical work of the Trump/Vance Transition,” Mr. Gaetz wrote on social media. “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.”

He added, “I remain fully committed to see that Donald J. Trump is the most successful President in history. I will forever be honored that President Trump nominated me to lead the Department of Justice and I’m certain he will Save America.”

[From The NY Times]

I’ve seen the names of at least five Republican senators who confirmed off-the-record that they would not vote for Gaetz as AG. That would be enough – the incoming Republican majority is 53-47. I’m seeing a lot of gross jokes about how dangerous Gaetz is now… dangerous for the high school girls in Florida. Dangerous at all of the quinceanera parties. But I prefer the jokes about how Gaetz’s nomination didn’t even last a full Scaramucci. What a train wreck. Who will be Trump’s next AG candidate? The late, great Hannibal Lector? Ah, that joke isn’t even relevant anymore – Trump has already nominated Pam Bondi as his new pick for AG. She was one of his impeachment attorneys.

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