Updated 01.29 | Published 01.17
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Donald Trump has suffered his first setback since the election victory.
After new sex leaks, Matt Gaetz, 42, drops out of the nomination to become US attorney general.
In recent days, Trump has been fighting behind the scenes to save his favorite.
– He really wants Matt Gaetz, says North Dakota Senator Kevin Cramer, who was called by Trump in a persuasion campaign.
Here is the game behind the controversial politician’s defection.
A shock wave went through both Republican and Democratic ranks after the announcement on November 13 that Trump wanted to see sex-buying accused Matt Gaetz as attorney general.
To be appointed, an attorney general must be approved by the Senate, and that was not so obvious to Gaetz.
Iowa Senator Joni Ernst was shocked when she heard about the nomination from the NY Times.
– He really has some work to do, she said to the NY Times.
Texas Senator John Cornyn didn’t know what to think.
– I’m still trying to take this in, he said.
The problem for the young Florida politician is that he is not only accused of drug use and exploitation of a 17-year-old girl.
He is also unpopular among his party colleagues.
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full screen Matt Gaetz drops out of the nomination to be US Attorney General. Photo: Alex Brandon/AP
Showed naked women
During his time in Congress, he has acted as Donald Trump’s torpedo and created chaos in the party, but also generally behaved inappropriately.
In April 2021 reported CNN that Gaetz showed pictures of naked women to other members of Congress, whom Gaetz said he had “slept with.”
Perhaps his nomination was doomed from the start, because pretty soon it started leaking like a sieve from a secret investigation into the sex-buying allegations.
The background to the information about sex purchases comes from 2020, when the Department of Justice started an investigation into Gaetz as a result of his friend Joel Greenberg being charged with, among other things, sex with minors and sex trafficking.
Greenberg was sentenced to eleven years in prison in 2022, but Gaetz has never been charged with a crime.
Started sex investigation
As a result of the allegations, the House Ethics Committee launched its own investigation into Gaetz. Even things that aren’t criminal can disqualify you from representing the American people.
In the past week, salacious details from the classified report have suddenly begun to leak, despite Republicans blocking its release on Wednesday.
As early as November 14, the day after the appointment, revealed ABC News that a woman testified in the report that Gaetz had sex with her when she was just 17 years old.
Donald Trump probably now realizes that his would-be right-hand man in government may be lost.
Trump starts calling around to senators to persuade them to pass Gaetz in the Senate, but at least five senators have decided to say no, according to MSNBC.
110,000 for six
A few days later interviews Washington Post the lawyer representing two of the women in the report.
The lawyer reveals that, according to the report, Gaetz organized sex parties where the women had sex with several of the participants.
They were paid via Venmo, the American equivalent of Swish.
Wednesday 20 November new leaks will arrive. There it is again Washington Post which reveals that Gaetz paid over SEK 110,000 for sex with the women.
The final nail in the coffin came yesterday, when it was revealed that Gaetz had sex at least twice with the 17-year-old girl.
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full screenDonald Trump. Photo: Alex Brandon/AP
Trump and Johnson pay tribute
Shortly after the American media sought Gaetz about the new information, he announced that he was withdrawing from the nomination for the post of attorney general.
Gaetz writes in a statement:
“Despite the strong momentum, it is clear that my nomination was unfairly becoming a distraction from the important work of the Trump/Vance transition.”
Donald Trump commented on the defection soon after on Truth Social:
“Matt has an amazing future, and I look forward to following all the great things he will accomplish
Speaker of the House of Representatives Mike Johnson is very clear in his disappointment, and in what the future attorney general has to do in government:
“He is an America First champion who is dedicated to ending the use of the Justice Department as a weapon, and which, after the abuses of the Biden-Harris administration, needs serious reform.”
On Thursday evening, Trump announces that he is instead nominating 59-year-old Pam Bondi, former chief prosecutor of Florida, as attorney general in his administration.