This is the reason why Matt Gaetz is withdrawing from the Attorney General nomination

Matt Gaetz has announced that he is withdrawing his name from consideration to become the next US Attorney General amid a swirling controversy about his nomination.

“I had excellent meetings with Senators yesterday. I appreciate their thoughtful feedback - and the incredible support of so many,” Gaetz said in a statement posted on social media on Thursday.

“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,” he continued.

“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.”

All of Trump’s cabinet picks will need to go through a Senate confirmation process before taking their place in the new administration. The Republicans hold a majority in the Upper House but the controversial nature of Gaetz - along with many of Trump’s other nominations - threatened to cause an impasse.

Why did Matt Gaetz withdraw from cabinet nomination?

Gaez was President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Justice despite a number of allegations of sexual misconduct. A House of Representative Ethics into Gaetz' behaviour was panned after Gaetz' shock resignation from Congress last week.

He is no stranger to these allegations but on Thursday, just 45 minutes before he announced his withdrawal, CNN released a report stating that another woman had come forward to say that she had sex with then-Rep. Matt Gaetz when she was a minor.

Again, Gaetz denied having sex with a minor and he has not been charged with a crime by the Justice Department. However the House Ethics Committee has now revived the investigation into the Florida lawmaker and there are calls for that report to be released. However given that Gaetz is no longer a member of the House, it’s not clear whether the Committee is still in a position to make their findings public.

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