Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) has resigned his House seat after President-elect Donald Trump tapped him to become the next attorney general.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) made the announcement Wednesday, shortly after Trump nominated Gaetz to lead the Department of Justice. The congressman’s resignation is effective immediately and comes days before the House Ethics Committee had planned to vote on whether to release a “highly damaging” report about him.
Johnson said Gaetz’s swift resignation came as a surprise to House leadership, and said, “I asked him [Gaetz] what the reasoning was, and he said, ‘Well, you can’t have too many absences.’”
The news will give Republicans time to cement its footprint in the lower chamber, as it allows Florida to fill Gaetz’s vacant seat as early as Jan. 3.
After saying that Gaetz’s move came “out of deference” to House leadership, Johnson noted, “So under Florida state law, there’s about an eight-week period to select and fill a vacancy, and so by doing so today, that allows me — I’ve already placed a call to Gov. DeSantis in Florida and said, ‘Let’s start the clock,’” Johnson said.
The speaker continued to say he plans to call Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) “first thing” Thursday to move ahead with replacing Gaetz.
The House Ethics Committee’s investigation into Gaetz notably will now cease, as he is no longer a member of Congress.
Since April 2021, the House Ethics Committee has been investigating allegations the Florida lawmaker may have “engaged in sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, accepted improper gifts, dispensed special privileges and favors to individuals with whom he had a personal relationship, and sought to obstruct government investigations of his conduct.”
Gaetz’s move to resign his seat coincides with revelations that the committee had scheduled a vote on releasing a “highly damaging” report about the investigation on Friday, according to Punchbowl News.
Gaetz has also been scrutinized by the DOJ over sexual misconduct allegations. The agency dropped the investigation in February after concluding it had not found enough evidence to charge Gaetz with any crimes.
Reactions poured in Wednesday after Trump nominated the Florida lawmaker to head the very agency that had previously investigated him.
Vice President-elect J.D. Vance rushed to his defense, saying, “The main issue with Matt Gaetz is that he used his office to prosecute his political opponents and authorized federal agents to harass parents who were peacefully protesting at school board meetings.”
“Oh wait, that’s actually Merrick Garland, the current attorney general,” Vance continued in a post on X.
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Meanwhile, conservative activist Charlie Kirk claimed that “the DOJ almost ruined Matt Gaetz’s life over fake accusations.”
“Now he will fix it to make sure that never happens again,” he said.
