Former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., removed himself from consideration as President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for attorney general in a shock decision less than two weeks after Trump nominated him for the role—reopening the race to lead the Justice Department.
Matt Gaetz at "The ABC News Presidential Debate: Race for the White House" held at the National ... [+]
While it’s unclear who Trump could nominate instead of Gaetz, a number of names were in the mix before he took himself out of the race, while others emerged as it became clear Gaetz’s confirmation was in jeopardy amid a ballooning sexual misconduct scandal.
Todd Blanche: New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman told CNN this week Trump believed Gaetz had less than a 50% chance of being confirmed and Blanche—Trump’s personal lawyer who led his defense in the Manhattan criminal hush money trial, and who Trump nominated as deputy attorney general—was a potential alternate choice.
Todd Blanche: New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman told CNN this week Trump believed Gaetz had less than a 50% chance of being confirmed and Blanche—Trump’s personal lawyer who led his defense in the Manhattan criminal hush money trial, and who Trump nominated as deputy attorney general—was a potential alternate choice.
Todd Blanche: New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman told CNN this week Trump believed Gaetz had less than a 50% chance of being confirmed and Blanche—Trump’s personal lawyer who led his defense in the Manhattan criminal hush money trial, and who Trump nominated as deputy attorney general—was a potential alternate choice.
Mark Paoletta: Former legal counsel to former Vice President Mike Pence and the Office of Management and Budget, Paoletta is reportedly involved in crafting Trump’s plans for the Justice Department and has defended Trump’s push to exert more authority over the agency.
Robert Giuffra: Co-chair of the New York law firm Sullivan and Cromwell, Giuffra was among those under consideration before Gaetz was nominated, Politico reported, citing an unnamed source familiar with the deliberations.
Aileen Cannon: The federal judge who dismissed Trump’s classified documents case, and was nominated to the bench by him in 2020, was among those on a list of potential candidates being circulated by Trump’s transition team, ABC News reported prior to the election, citing multiple unnamed sources familiar with the matter.
Kash Patel: The former chief of staff to acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller during Trump’s first term, Patel is considered one of Trump’s staunchest loyalists and frequently speaks about his desire to help Trump retaliate against his enemies—though Patel, controversial due to frequent incendiary comments, is more often floated as a potential candidate for FBI director.
A number of one-time AG contenders have been given other jobs in the Trump administration or have said they’re not interested in the attorney general role. Former Director of National Intelligence and former Texas Rep. John Ratcliffe was appointed CIA director. Trump tapped his former acting attorney general, Matthew Whitaker, as U.S. NATO ambassador, and former Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Jay Clayton was chosen as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., have both indicated they aren’t interested in the AG job.
Betting markets (which aren’t inherently reliable) predict Bailey, Blanche, Lee and Paxton, in that order, have the best chances of winning the nomination, according to Kalshi.
Attorney General is seen as one of Trump’s most important appointments, as he and his allies have expressed interest in asserting far more power over the Department of Justice than prior presidents. The Gaetz decision was a surprise pick, and was met with resistance by some GOP senators. Gaetz abruptly announced Thursday he was bowing out of the attorney general race, following growing fallout over the sexual misconduct allegations against him that have overwhelmed the political news cycle since Trump nominated him for the role on Nov. 12. Gaetz announced his decision on X, writing, “it is clear my confirmation was unfairly becoming a distraction to the critical work of the Trump/Vance Transition.” Gaetz has been the subject of sexual misconduct allegations for years, including via a since-closed Justice Department probe into whether he had sex with a minor and paid women to travel with him in violation of federal sex trafficking laws and a House Ethics Committee investigation into the claims, among others. New details about the allegations against Gaetz emerged after Trump nominated him and he subsequently resigned from Congress, putting the release of a report on the committee’s Gaetz probe in jeopardy as the committee does not have jurisdiction over former members of Congress. Among the new allegations: An attorney for two women who testified to the ethics committee, Joel Leppard, said his clients told the committee Gaetz paid them for sex and that one of his clients said she witnessed Gaetz having sex with a minor. Venmo receipts purportedly showing payments Gaetz made to people involved in sex parties he allegedly attended and other records detailing payments to the two female ethics committee witnesses were also made public in reports by ABC News and The New York Times. Gaetz has denied all of the allegations against him.