Washington: Former Congressman Matt Gaetz announced on Thursday that he was withdrawing his name for consideration as President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee as attorney general.

“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,” Gaetz wrote in a post on X.

“There is no time to waste on a needlessly protracted Washington scuffle, thus I’ll be withdrawing my name from consideration to serve as Attorney General.  Trump’s DOJ must be in place and ready on Day 1,” he added.

President-elect Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social: “I greatly appreciate the recent efforts of Matt Gaetz in seeking approval to be Attorney General. He was doing very well but, at the same time, did not want to be a distraction for the Administration, for which he has much respect. Matt has a wonderful future, and I look forward to watching all of the great things he will do!”

Gaetz’s nomination had run into controversy from the moment after the announcement over allegations that he had sex with a minor, which the ethics committee of the US House of Representatives had investigated.

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Both Republican and Democratic lawmakers had called for the committee’s report to be made public or shared with the US Senate’s judiciary committee for a confirmation hearing.

Gaetz, a former member of the House of Representatives from Florida, had resigned his seat just days before the ethics committee’s report was expected.

The resignation was said to be a move to prevent its release of the report under a tradition that prevents the body from investigating people who are not members of the House. However, there have been exceptions to that protocol.

CNN reported that Gaetz’s withdrawal announcement came shortly after the news channel reached out to the former congressman with new allegations that he had sex with the minor not once but twice.

Pete Hegseth, who is Trump’s nominee for defence secretary, is also mired in controversy over news reports that a woman of sexually assaulting her once accused him. He has denied the allegation.

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–IANS