(WASHINGTON) — In the span of eight days, former Rep. Matt Gaetz went from a reelected House member to an attorney general pick in President-elect Donald Trump’s second administration to ultimately bowing out before a Senate confirmation.
Here is a timeline of the roller coaster of events for the embattled ex-congressman.
Nov. 13, 2024
President-elect Donald Trump announces that Gaetz, who had won reelection for Florida’s 1st district on Election Day, was his nominee for attorney general.
Gaetz resigns from Congress that day, according to House Speaker Mike Johnson.
Several House Republicans meeting behind closed doors said there was an audible gasp in the room when they heard Trump had picked Gaetz, sources told ABC News.
Gaetz was investigated for alleged sex trafficking by the Justice Department, however, no charges were ultimately brought.
The House Ethics Committee has also been probing Gaetz on those allegations, which he has repeatedly denied.
Nov. 14, 2024
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announces he will hold a special election to fill the Gaetz’s seat but doesn’t immediately provide details.
Sen. John Thune, the incoming Senate majority leader, tells reporters he doesn’t know if Gaetz can get confirmed until they start the confirmation process.
Senators on both sides of the aisle call for the release of details from the Ethics Committee’s investigation into the former congressman.
ABC News reports the woman who was at the center of the Justice Department investigation into sex trafficking allegations surrounding Gaetz testified to the House Ethics Committee that the former congressman had sex with her when she was 17 years old.
Nov. 15, 2024
Johnson tells reporters that he would urge the Ethics Committee not to release their report on their probe into Gaetz.
The speaker says he didn’t think it was “relevant” for the public to know what’s in the report.
An attorney representing two women who were witnesses in the House Ethics Committee’s investigation tells ABC News one of his clients testified that she witnessed the Florida congressman having sex with a minor.
Nov. 18, 2024
In an interview with ABC News’ Juju Chang, Florida attorney Joel Leppard reveals new details regarding his clients’ closed-door testimony before the Ethics Committee — including that his clients told congressional investigators that Gaetz allegedly paid for them to travel across state lines to have sex on at least two occasions.
Nov. 19, 2024
Trump backer and Tesla/SpaceX/X CEO Elon Musk backs Gaetz despite more stories about his scandals coming to light. Musk said the scandals were “worth less than nothing” and called the former congressman “our Hammer of Justice,” in a post on X.
Johnson denied that he discussed the details of the draft ethics report on the Gaetz matter with House Ethics Chairman Michael Guest, and further denied that Trump or Gaetz pressured him to bury the report.
A hacker gained access to an online secure document-sharing file between attorneys involved in a civil lawsuit brought by a close friend to Gaetz, and potentially revealed documents, including unredacted depositions from key witnesses in the case, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News.
During a Space X launch, Trump tells reporters he is not reconsidering his pick for attorney general.
ABC News reports the Ethics Committee obtained records, including a check and records of Venmo payments, that appear to show that Gaetz paid more than $10,000 to two women who were later witnesses in sexual misconduct probes conducted by both the House and the Justice Department, according to documents.
Nov. 20, 2024
Gaetz meets with Republican senators ,who push for his nomination process to continue.
Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee write to FBI Director Christopher Wray to request the complete evidentiary file in the bureau’s closed investigation into Gaetz.
The Ethics Committee voted against releasing the report after multiple rounds of votes, with all Republicans on the committee voting against its release, during a closed-door, two-hour meeting. The committee schedules another meeting in December. Two Democrats introduce privileged resolutions to make the report public.
Nov. 21, 2024
Johnson says said the House will take up the privileged resolution to force the release of the Gaetz report after Thanksgiving break.
Gaetz announces on X that he is withdrawing his name from the nomination process.
“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,” he said in the post.
Illinois Democratic Rep. Sean Casten suggests that he plans to still move forward with forcing the House to vote on compelling the Ethics Committee to release the Gaetz report.
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