WASHINGTON (AP) — In the two weeks since Donald Trump won the presidency, he has sought to demonstrate his dominance by nominating loyalists to top government jobs, even as many lack expertise and some face accusations faced with sexual misconduct. It often seems as if he is daring Congress to defy his decisions.
But on Thursday, Trump’s attempt to act with impunity collapsed when Matt Gaetz, his nominee for attorney general, withdrew from consideration.
Trump had appointed Gaetz, a Florida congressman, as the country’s top law enforcement official even though he was widely unpopular with his colleagues, had little legal experience and was accused of having sex with an underage girl, a claim he denied. After being plagued by investigations during his first presidency, Trump wanted a devoted ally at the helm of the Justice Department during his second presidency.
But it was never clear that Gaetz could win enough support from lawmakers to be confirmed as attorney general. As his replacement, Trump chose Pam Bondi, a former Florida attorney general who defended him during his first impeachment trial and supported his false claims of election fraud.
The question now is whether Gaetz was uniquely unpalatable or whether Trump’s other choices could outpace his party’s willingness to ignore concerns that would have brought down candidates in a previous political era.
The next test will likely be Pete Hegseth, whom Trump wants at the top of the Pentagon despite an allegation of sexual assault that he denies. So far, Republicans have rallied around Hegseth, an Army veteran and former Fox News host.
Sen. Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican and member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said the Gaetz controversy had little impact on Trump’s other decisions. He said they would be considered “individually.”
Senator Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat from Connecticut, suggested otherwise, claiming: “The dominoes are falling.”
“The drop of evidence and truth will eventually cause others to fail,” he said.
Trump’s victory was a sign that there may no longer be many red lines in American politics. He won the presidential race despite authoritarian, racist and misogynistic rhetoric, not to mention years of lies about election fraud and his role in triggering the attack on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021. He was also convicted of falsifying business records criminally convicted of paying hush money and held liable in civil proceedings for sexual abuse.
Bolstered by voters who overlooked his misconduct and saw him as a powerful agent of change, Trump has shown no regard for Washington norms in appointing his second administration. The transition team did not conduct federal background checks for Trump’s personnel decisions. While some of his nominees have extensive experience in the fields they were chosen to lead, others are personal friends and Fox News personalities who have impressed and flattered Trump over the years.
Several of them have been accused of sexual misconduct.
After Gaetz, Hegseth is under the most pressure. After Trump announced Hegseth as his nominee for Pentagon chief, allegations surfaced that he sexually assaulted a woman in California in 2017.
According to a police report released this week, the woman said he took her phone, blocked the door to the hotel room and refused to let her leave.
Hegseth told police at the time that the encounter was consensual and denied any wrongdoing, the report said. However, he paid the woman a confidential settlement in 2023. Hegseth’s lawyer said the payment was made to avert the risk of a baseless lawsuit.
Trump’s nominee for Health and Human Services secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., was also accused of misconduct. A woman who babysat for him and his second wife told Vanity Fair magazine that Kennedy groped her in the slow 1990s when she was 23.
Kennedy did not deny the allegation and texted the woman an apology after the article was published. That’s not the only hurdle for Kennedy; He has spent years spreading misinformation and conspiracy theories about vaccines, stoking fears that he could be named the modern administration’s top health official.
Linda McMahon, Trump’s pick for education secretary, is battling a lawsuit related to her former company, World Wrestling Entertainment. She is accused of knowingly enabling the sexual exploitation of children by an employee in the 1980s and she denies the allegations.
Tulsi Gabbard is another person who could face a complex confirmation fight, but for very different reasons. The former Democratic representative from Hawaii was a vocal Trump ally and he chose her to be director of national intelligence. But there is deep concern from lawmakers and national security officials about Gabbard’s history of repeating Russian propaganda. Critics said it would jeopardize relations with U.S. allies.
Gaetz was investigated by federal law enforcement for sex trafficking, but the case was closed without charges and Republicans have blocked the release of a related report by the House Ethics Committee.
However, some allegations leaked out, including that Gaetz paid women for sex. One of the women testified before the committee that she saw Gaetz having sex with a 17-year-old girl, according to an attorney for the woman.
As Gaetz met with senators this week, it became clear he would face stubborn resistance from lawmakers who were concerned about his behavior and believed he was unqualified to lead the Justice Department.
“While the momentum was strong, it is clear that my confirmation unfairly became a distraction,” Gaetz wrote on social media when he announced his withdrawal.
Sen. Mike Braun, an Indiana Republican, said he believed there were four to six members of the caucus who voted against Gaetz, which likely would have doomed his nomination, and “the bill became too difficult.”
He said some of the issues and allegations surrounding Gaetz were “perhaps completely exaggerated.”
“I think there were just too many things, it was like a leaky levee and you know, it broke,” Braun said.
Trump thanked Gaetz in a post on Truth Social, his social media website, without addressing the substance of the allegations against him.
“He was doing very well, but at the same time he didn’t want to distract the administration, for which he has great respect,” Trump wrote.
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Associated Press writers Mary Clare Jalonick, Stephen Groves and Lisa Macaro contributed from Washington. Jill Colvin in New York and Adriana Gomez Licon in Fort Lauderdale, Florida also contributed.
