President-elect Donald Trump has responded to questions about whether he is reconsidering his decision to nominate former Florida Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz to become his attorney general.

Trump visited Boca Chica, Texas, to observe SpaceX’s sixth test flight of its Starship rocket when asked about Gaetz.
“Mr. President, are you reconsidering the nomination of Matt Gaetz?” Trump was asked. “No,” the president-elect replied before walking away, according to Fox News.

Gaetz’s nomination has faced significant criticism due to a yearslong investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct and illicit drug use. While the Justice Department ultimately declined to pursue charges, the controversy has continued to cast a shadow over his political career.

Just hours after President-elect Trump nominated the Florida Republican to be Attorney General, he resigned from his congressional seat last week.

“Once the investigation is complete, then a report will be issued — assuming that, at that time, that Mr. Gaetz is still a member of Congress,” House Ethics Committee Chairman Michael Guest, R-Miss, said when asked about the probe.
“If Mr. Gaetz were to resign because he is taking a position with the administration as the attorney general, then the Ethics Committee loses jurisdiction at that point. Once we lose jurisdiction, there would not be a report that would be issued. That’s not unique to this case.”

Regarding the DOJ’s probe, The Federalist editor Mollie Hemingway noted in a Monday column that investigators dropped the case because they did not find Gaetz’s accusers to be credible, leaving her to wonder why the GOP-led Ethics Committee has put any credence into the accusers’ claims as well.

“Many Americans are sick and tired of elected officials and media pundits doing nothing as DOJ attempted to destroy the country with its abuse of the rule of law. Among the many powerful figures in Washington, D.C. opposed to the Gaetz nomination are some who are attempting to thwart it by releasing a report from the House Ethics Committee that will attempt to tie Gaetz to salacious allegations involving child sex trafficking,” Hemingway wrote.

“The report comes years after DOJ dropped its investigation into the same claims on the grounds that the two central witnesses had serious credibility issues. Yet these are the same two central witnesses the House Ethics Committee has relied on for its critical report of Gaetz—the same report it is leaking to compliant reporters as part of a coordinated effort to thwart his nomination as President-elect Donald Trump’s next attorney general,” she noted further.

The claims stem from Joel Greenberg, who has been described as “one of the most corrupt Florida politicians of all time” by Florida reporter Marc Caputo, now associated with The Bulwark, a media outlet critical of Trump.

Among the many offenses former Seminole County tax collector Greenberg admitted to as part of a broad case for which he is serving 11 years in prison was falsely accusing political opponent Brian Beute of having sex with a minor, similar to the unsubstantiated claim he made against Gaetz, noted Hemingway.

Greenberg also allegedly tried to frame his own attorney by planting pornographic images of children on his devices, Hemingway noted in her column, adding that a New York Times article about Greenberg was even titled, “Like the Tiger King Got Elected Tax Collector,” reflecting the bizarre nature of his actions.

According to the Washington Post, Greenberg admitted to “fabricating allegations against a schoolteacher who was running against him to be a tax collector. Greenberg had sent letters to the school falsely claiming the teacher had an inappropriate sexual relationship with a student — a similar allegation to the Gaetz case.”

U.S. District Judge Gregory Presnell, appointed by President Bill Clinton, said Greenberg’s actions against that innocent victim were “downright evil.”

The Department of Justice concluded that the individuals making accusations against Matt Gaetz had such significant credibility issues that they could not be charged with any crimes.

Meanwhile, the House Ethics Committee has merely resurrected these same allegations from unreliable witnesses, she wrote.