Matt Gaetz Catches Speaker Mike Johnson by Surprise, Resigns from Congress ‘Effective Immediately’

As he faces Senate headwinds to become the next U.S. Attorney General, Matt Gaetz resigned his House seat on Wednesday, according to House Speaker Mike Johnson.

On Wednesday, President-elect Donald Trump announced that he will nominate Gaetz to be attorney general, leading to the resignation which Johnson said was to help House Republicans have their majority in place when the new Congress convenes in January.

“I think, out of deference to us, he issued his resignation letter effective immediately, of Congress,” Johnson said, according to The Hill.

“That caught us by surprise a little bit, but I asked him what the reasoning was, and he said, ‘Well, you can’t have too many absences,’ so under Florida state law there’s about an eight-week period to select and fill a vacant seat.”

Johnson said he thinks the process of replacing Gaetz can be done by the time the new Congress convenes.

“I’ve already placed a call to Gov. DeSantis in Florida and said let’s start the clock. He’s in Italy at the moment, and so we’re gonna talk first thing in the morning about this. And if we start the clock now, if you do the math, we may be able to fill that seat as early as Jan. 3 when we take the new oath of office for the new Congress,” Johnson said.

“So Matt would’ve done us a great service by making that decision as he did on the fly, and so we’re grateful for that,” he said.

As noted by Fox News, Gaetz is the third House Republican Trump wants in his administration. Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York is Trump’s pick for U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Rep. Mike Waltz of Florida is Trump’s pick for National Security Adviser.

Resigning means that a House Ethics Committee investigation into the Florida Republican ends, The Hill noted.

“Once a member is no longer a member of Congress, then Ethics has no jurisdiction,” House Ethics Committee Chair Republican Rep. Michael Guest of Mississippi said.

 “So if Matt Gaetz were to be appointed as the attorney general, the Ethics investigation that is currently ongoing would cease at that point,” he said.

The Ethics Committee will meet Friday to discuss its next steps into allegations of sexual misconduct and illegal drug use against Gaetz that began in 2021, when Democrats controlled Congress. It could release a report of what it found to date, even though punishment against Gaetz as a member of the House is no longer possible.

Gaetz has denied any wrongdoing.

Republican Rep. Max Miller of Ohio said the panel’s findings could become part of the Senate confirmation process.

That process is likely to be thorny, according to NBC.

Gaetz’s pick “was not on my bingo card,” Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska said.

“I don’t think it’s a serious nomination for the attorney general. That’s Lisa Murkowski’s view,” she said.

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