Perhaps he wasn’t sure the surprise news of his appointment by President-elect Donald Trump as attorney general in the up-to-date administration was sufficiently dramatic. (Or maybe he’s thinking about the long game.) Whatever he thinks, in another stunning turn of events, Congressman Matt Gaetz (R-FL) has officially resigned from Congress.
The news comes just hours after the announcement of Gaetz’s nomination sent the internet into a frenzy. House Speaker Mike Johnson, who was himself confirmed as a candidate for the position in the conference vote on Wednesday afternoon, announced the news of Gaetz’s resignation on Wednesday evening.
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Mike Johnson says Matt Gaetz has already resigned from Congress pic.twitter.com/gkXOFTQ44S
—Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) November 14, 2024
Johnson had this to say:
“Matt and I were classmates — we arrived at the same time in the 115th Congress in January 2017 — and alphabetically we sat right next to each other on the Judiciary Committee; we worked there together for seven years. Some of you all who cover the judiciary know that these are long meetings. So I got to know Matt very well.
“Look, I’ll say this: Anyone who served with him will tell you he’s one of the smartest members of Congress. He is an accomplished lawyer. “He is very concerned about the state of justice at the Justice Department under the Biden administration” — and the fact that the American people have lost faith in our justice institutions because of everything we have seen. He is a reformer in his mind and heart, and I think he will contribute a lot to that.
“I think it was out of consideration for us that he issued his letter of resignation effective immediately – to Congress. That surprised us a little, but I asked him why and he said, “You can’t do that.” select and fill a free seat.
“For me to do this today, I’ve already made a call to Governor DeSantis in Florida and said, ‘Let’s start the clock.’ He’s in Italy right now, and we’re going to talk about it first thing in the morning. And if we start the clock now, we may be able to fill this seat as early as January 3rd, when we take the up-to-date oath of office for the up-to-date Congress. So Matt would have done us a great service if he had made this decision on the spur of the moment, and we are grateful for that.
“So we carry on. Look, I say this about – people have been asking me all day, “Um, President Trump is poaching all your talent.” Yes, but we have an embarrassment of riches here – the Republican Conference is full of talented people who are exceptional leaders and have great specialist knowledge. And everyone at this…conference could take a leadership position in the administration…”
This means the clock begins ticking in Florida’s 1st Congressional District. Hopefully the Florida GOP can act quickly and field a good candidate to replace Gaetz. In the meantime, we’ll no doubt continue to hear all kinds of discontent about his nomination. It never gets tedious!
