{"id":2444,"date":"2024-11-14T01:03:22","date_gmt":"2024-11-14T01:03:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/gaetz-resigns-from-congress-possibly-skirting-long-awaited-ethics-report\/"},"modified":"2024-11-14T01:03:22","modified_gmt":"2024-11-14T01:03:22","slug":"gaetz-resigns-from-congress-possibly-skirting-long-awaited-ethics-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/gaetz-resigns-from-congress-possibly-skirting-long-awaited-ethics-report\/","title":{"rendered":"Gaetz resigns from Congress \u2014 possibly skirting long-awaited Ethics report"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz<\/a> resigned from the House Wednesday, Speaker Mike Johnson<\/a> announced, the same day that Donald Trump announced that he had tapped the Florida firebrand to be his attorney general.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe issued his resignation letter effective immediately from Congress. That caught us by surprise a little bit,\u201d Johnson told reporters during a press conference on Wednesday night.<\/p>\n

Dozens of GOP lawmakers indicated that leadership had told them about Gaetz\u2019s resignation before Johnson made the announcement. Many were excitedly spreading the news, glad to be rid of the architect of Kevin McCarthy\u2019s speakership ouster. Gaetz didn\u2019t attend the GOP\u2019s hours-long meeting near the Capitol on Wednesday, where Republicans elected their leadership slate.<\/p>\n

Johnson said Gaetz had resigned so abruptly because he knew how long it would take to fill the seat if he becomes attorney general. Johnson said he reached out to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday and added that because of Gaetz\u2019s early resignation it’s possible they could fill his seat as soon as Jan. 3, when the chamber is slated to elect a speaker.<\/p>\n

DeSantis\u2019 office did not have an immediate response to questions about when the governor would schedule a special election. But deadlines in state and federal law would make it difficult to schedule one before Congress convenes in January.<\/p>\n

Other GOP House colleagues believe his decision is actually tied to an Ethics Committee report investigating several allegations including that Gaetz engaged in sex with a minor, which they believe was poised to be released in a matter of days. Gaetz has repeatedly denied wrongdoing and has sought to attack the panel probing various allegations against him. If Gaetz is no longer a member of the House, the report likely won\u2019t be formally released, though it could leak.<\/p>\n

One House Republican, granted anonymity to speak candidly, tied Gaetz\u2019s resignation to trying to \u201cstymie the ethics investigation that is coming out in one week.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gaetz, his spokesperson and a senior aide did not respond to requests for comment about the decision.<\/p>\n

Republican senators have already expressed doubts that Gaetz could get confirmed as attorney general, as the pick gets fierce pushback across the party. And even some of his House colleagues were quick to predict that Gaetz wouldn\u2019t be able to get confirmed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think Matt cares if he gets confirmed \u2014 everybody is talking about him \u2026 so for Matt this is a win,\u201d said Rep. Max Miller<\/a> (R-Ohio), who added that Gaetz \u201cran around here last term like a six year old with a loaded revolver and a happy trigger finger.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ethics Chair Michael Guest<\/a> (R-Miss.) told reporters ahead of Gaetz\u2019s announced resignation that the probe would end if Gaetz was no longer a member of the House.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce the investigation is complete, the Ethics Committee will meet as a committee. We will then return our findings. If Matt Gaetz is still a member of Congress, then that will occur. If Matt has resigned, then this ethics investigation, like many others in the past, will end again,\u201d Guest told reporters about the impact of Gaetz being picked for attorney general.<\/p>\n

Gary Fineout and Eleanor Mueller contributed to this report.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz resigned from the House Wednesday, Speaker Mike Johnson announced, the same day that Donald Trump announced that he had tapped the Florida firebrand to be his attorney general. \u201cHe issued his resignation letter effective immediately from Congress. That caught us by surprise a little bit,\u201d Johnson told reporters during a press […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2444","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-congress"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2444","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2444"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2444\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}