Sen. Mullin Reacts To Gaetz Withdrawal As Trump Nominates Pam Bondi For Attorney General

President-elect Donald Trump has announced former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi as his new nominee for attorney general. The decision follows the withdrawal of former Congressman Matt Gaetz from consideration for the position on Thursday.

Trump's pick of Gaetz had raised eyebrows, even among some of his Republican supporters, in part, because of allegations of sexual misconduct and drug use against Gaetz. A Department of Justice investigation into the allegations, which include having sex with a minor, ultimately yielded no charges. Nevertheless, the House Ethics Committee conducted its own investigation but Wednesday chose not to release a report on its findings, given that Gaetz is no longer a member of Congress.

Either way, the nomination faced significant hurdles and thus Gaetz’s decision Thursday to withdraw did not come as a surprise to many members, including Oklahoma Senator Markwayne Mullin.

“I figured it would go a little longer than this,” Mullin said in an interview Thursday afternoon, “but, ultimately, I think he could see the writing on the wall.” 

Gaetz appeared to be all-in Wednesday, meeting at the Capitol with GOP senators who would be handling his confirmation hearing, even as leaked and sordid details of testimony to the House Ethics panel about Gaetz filtered through senators’ offices, convincing enough of them that the nomination had no chance to actually make it to the confirmation process in January.

“I just--I know enough people that were a 'hell no' in the conference,” Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND) told reporters Thursday, “to know that the path would have been very very difficult.”

Cramer confirmed he would have voted against confirmation.

In a statement announcing his decision, Gaetz said, "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."

Senator Mullin, a very close ally of Trump who's had an openly adversarial relationship with Gaetz, says he had no influence on Gaetz’s decision, but says he did have a conversation with Trump's transition team about the nomination. He says he isn’t the only one to have voiced concern to the team. But in the end, Mullin says Gaetz can only blame himself. 

“When you're getting promoted or confirmed, running for leadership positions up here,” Mullin observed, “peer-to-peer relationships matter, and he just didn't have the relationships.”