Matt Gaetz said he fell victim to a ‘smear’ campaign that dredged up old and discredited allegations in his first interview since withdrawing his name for consideration as Donald Trump‘s attorney general.
He sensationally dropped out on Thursday amid a drip, drip, drip of allegations from a House Ethics Committee probe into allegations that he had sex with an underage girl.
‘If the things [in] the House Ethics report were true, I would be under indictment and probably in a prison cell,’ he told The Charlie Kirk Show.
‘But of course, they’re false, because when you test them against other records, when you test them against other testimony, it all falls apart very quickly.’
He said he was the victim of a politically motivated campaign because of his key role in forcing out Kevin McCarthy as House Speaker.
And he insisted he could have answered all the allegations during his confirmation hearings but that the process would have dragged on, undermining Trump’s plans to begin his overhaul of government on day one.
The interview will be released at midday Friday.
He also said that his replacement, former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, would be ‘phenomenal’ in the role.
Matt Gaetz was interviewed by Charlie Kirk on Friday morning, a day after he withdrew his name for consideration as Trump’s attorney general
And he has no plans to return to Congress.
Instead he said he would now work to recruit the talent that would help underpin the Trump administration.
Gaetz was a controversial choice from the outset. His resume lacked legal experience and he had been investigated by the department he was being tapped to run.
He has always denied the allegation.
‘There is a play that is run in Washington when they’re trying to smear somebody and, you know, they go and dredge up false, years old allegations of the most salacious and click bait, e flavor possible. And in this case, they were,’ he said.
‘Those allegations were coming from sources that Merrick Garland‘s DOJ already deemed not credible.’
However, he found himself up against a politically motivated body, he continued, because he triggered the process that ousted McCarthy last year.
‘All of them were hand picked by Kevin McCarthy, and they had an axe to grind,’ he said,
‘So that was going to serve as at least enough of a basis to delay my confirmation as attorney general.
Gaetz said he was the victim of a ‘politically motivated’ plot because of his role in forcing out Rep. Kevin McCarthy as House Speaker last year
Gaetz pictured at a reception at Mar-a-Lago last week
Trump moved swiftly Thursday to name a replacement for Gaetz in the form of former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi
‘And I could have answered all those questions. I could have engaged in a months long fact battle, but we don’t have months to go through that.
‘We’ve got to have an A.G,. ready to go day one to implement the immigration agenda and work on the other key policy deregulatory objectives of the president.’
Trump moved swiftly Thursday to name a replacement for Gaetz.
The former Florida congressman said Bondi would be ready to get to work on day one.
‘My good friend Pam Bondi is going to be a phenomenal Attorney General for Donald Trump,’ he said.
‘She has the legal acumen. She hates criminals. She is a bright legal mind and a fellow Floridian.
‘So I think that even though the path will take me to a different station in life and a different place to fight for our agenda and President Trump, we’ve got a great person in place.’
Gaetz added that he was ready to serve Trump however he wanted.
‘I’m still going to be in the fight, but it’s going to be from a new perch,’ he said.
‘I do not intend to join the 119th Congress. 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.’
