According to the Daily Beast, which cited an anonymous White House insider, President Donald Trump thinks he should’ve fought harder for former Rep. Matt Gaetz, who was Trump’s first pick for attorney general. Gaetz dropped out of consideration once his penchant for allegedly paying minors for sex at drug-fueled parties was revealed.
The outlet said Trump wishes he “had stuck to his guns” and urged Gaetz to go through the Senate confirmation process, which has gone well so far for all of Trump’s chosen appointees thanks to Republicans—and oftentimes Democrats.
“The president has said he now feels they could have gotten Matt through,” the insider told the Daily Beast. “He feels bad for him.”
Indeed, the president has told confidants he thinks that congressional Republicans would’ve looked past some of the more sordid details of Gaetz’s past, including the fact that he allegedly had sex with a 17-year-old girl twice at a 2017 party and later paid her $400 for it. A report describing Gaetz’s supposed behavior also noted that he created a fake email address from his office in Washington, D.C., “to purchase marijuana.”
It’s unclear why Trump seems to believe that Gaetz would’ve made it past the grueling Senate confirmation process, given Republicans at the time made it clear they wouldn’t support his bid for attorney general. Even Gaetz knew he didn’t stand a chance. In addition to resigning from his seat in Congress hours after Trump tapped him to serve (seemingly to keep that report expounding on his trysts under seal), he withdrew his name from consideration for attorney general in November.
It didn’t take too long for the president to move on, though. In late November, he selected Gaetz’s successor: Pam Bondi, a Trump lapdog who sailed through her confirmation process.
At the time the revelations about Gaetz came to light, Trump predicted that the Florida man had a less than 50% chance of getting confirmed by the Senate. The president apparently made calls to various senators in an attempt to lobby their support for Gaetz but was unsuccessful.
It’s possible Trump now thinks Gaetz would’ve sailed through the Senate because all of his other controversial choices, including Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. were all confirmed with little fuss.
The good news for Trump, at least, is that Gaetz hasn’t shut the door on another political foray and is allegedly plotting a run to be Florida’s next governor.
But Trump might be the only person who misses Gaetz. The rest of us sure don’t. And in a recent interview with GQ, actor Alan Ritchson, who went to high school with the former congressman, said he couldn’t believe “that motherfucker” receives the attention he does.
“It’s shocking to me that the panhandle of Florida continues to vote for somebody—knowing everything we know about him and the promises that he’s made behind closed doors about pardoning certain criminals—he’s just not a good dude,” Ritchson said.
