Ex-Rep. Matt Gaetz Friday ruled out a possible return to Congress after dropping his bid to become President-elect Trump’s attorney general.
The former Florida lawmaker told a right-wing podcast that he wouldn’t try to walk back his resignation from the deep-red seat that he recently won in a reelection landslide despite the implosion of his nomination amid sex-and-drug accusations.
“I’m still going to be in the fight, but it’s going to be from a new perch but I do not intend to join the 119th Congress,” Gaetz told “America’s Voice” podcast host Charlie Kirk.
Gaetz, 42, praised the Republicans jostling for a chance to take his spot on Capitol Hill and called it “a pretty poetic time to allow that great new blood to come in.”
The four-term Republican said he has “other goals in life,” without elaborating.
“I’m going to be fighting for President Trump,” Gaetz said. “I’m going to be doing whatever he asks of me, as I always have. But I think that eight years is probably enough time in the United States Congress.”
Gaetz, one of Trump’s most vocal supporters, resigned from Congress last week at the same day as Trump nominated him to be attorney general. Many interpreted the unusual move as a ploy to avoid the planned release of a damning House Ethics Committee report into drug and sex abuse allegations.
At least two young women told the panel they were paid by Gaetz for sex at drug-fueled parties in Florida and during vacation jaunts. One was only 17 and a high school student at the time.
He pulled the plug on his bid as more lurid allegations surfaced and GOP senators told him he couldn’t win confirmation. It’s unclear whether the report will ever be released now that he is no longer a member of Congress and no longer vying to be attorney general.
Trump quickly moved to nominate former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi in his place, a pick that drew favorable responses from GOP lawmakers and analysts.
Gaetz could make a run for governor of the Sunshine State in 2026 when Gov. Ron DeSantis will be barred by term limits from running again.
Some of Gaetz’s supporters have mentioned him as a possible candidate to be appointed to fill the soon-to-be-vacant U.S. Senate seat now held by Marco Rubio, who has been nominated for Secretary of State.
DeSantis, who will make that pick, has kept quiet about who might be on his short list.