Matt Gaetz says he will not serve in the upcoming session of Congress

Former Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz said on a podcast Friday he will not be joining Congress next year, settling an issue that had been the subject of intense speculation in the hours after he withdrew his name from consideration as attorney general.

Gaetz had resigned last week from the 118th session of Congress, but it was unclear whether he would serve in the 119th session, beginning in January.

Prior to resigning, Gaetz had been under a monthslong investigation by the House Ethics Committee, and the suggestion he might return to Congress touched off a flurry of speculation from members.

MATT GAETZ WITHDRAWS FROM CONSIDERATION TO SERVE AS ATTORNEY GENERAL

Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., is seen after a meeting of the House Republican Conference in the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday, October 3, 2023. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

Gaetz dismissed that speculation Friday in an interview with podcaster Charlie Kirk. 

“There are a number of fantastic Floridians who’ve stepped up to run for my seat, people who have inspired with their heroism, with their public service,”  Gaetz told Kirk in an interview on his eponymous podcast. “And I’m actually excited to see Northwest Florida go to new heights and have great representation.”

Gaetz did say he planned to be part of staffing the incoming Trump administration and praised Trump’s pick of former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi to replace him as the top U.S. prosecutor if confirmed by the Senate.

“My good friend Pam Bondi is going to be a phenomenal attorney general for Donald Trump,” Gaetz told Kirk. “She has the legal acumen. She hates criminals. She is a bright legal mind and a fellow Floridian.”

The interview comes hours after Gaetz withdrew his name from consideration as Trump’s nominee for attorney general on Thursday, citing what he described as the “distraction” his nomination had caused due to a swirl of allegations about paying underage women for sex. 

Then-Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., talks to reporters just after House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s last-ditch plan to keep the government temporarily open collapsed, at the Capitol in Washington, Friday, Sept. 29, 2023.  (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

“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,” Gaetz said in announcing the decision.

The House Ethics Committee had deadlocked days earlier on whether to release their report on their investigation into Gaetz, which kicked off following a Justice Department investigation in 2021 stemming from allegations related to sex trafficking. The DOJ did not press charges in the matter, and attorneys for Gaetz said in 2023 that the Justice Department had dropped the investigation. 

“We have just spoken with the DOJ and have been informed that they have concluded their investigation into Congressman Gaetz and allegations related to sex trafficking and obstruction of justice, and they have determined not to bring any charges against him,” Gaetz attorneys Marc Mukasey and Isabelle Kirshner said in a statement in February 2023 reported by multiple news outlets.

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Gaetz has denied all accusations. In an interview Friday, he stressed that he plans to continue to fight on behalf of the president-elect, despite his decision to resign from Congress.

“I’m going to be fighting for President Trump,” Gaetz said, adding: “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.”