Everything to Know About Matt Gaetz After He Withdrew as Donald Trump's Pick for Attorney General

Following Donald Trump's 2024 presidential election win, he shocked the public when he named Matt Gaetz as his pick for the attorney general, opening the doors for the Republican representative to potentially become the 87th person to hold the U.S.'s top law enforcement position.

"Few issues in America are more important than ending the partisan Weaponization of our Justice System," the President-elect said in a post on his Truth Social platform. "Matt will end Weaponized Government, protect our Borders, dismantle Criminal Organizations and restore Americans' badly-shattered Faith and Confidence in the Justice Department."

A few hours after Trump's announcement, House Speaker Mike Johnson said Gaetz resigned from Congress due to the loyalist's preparation for the attorney general confirmation process.

Sources told ABC News many people gasped audibly when Trump chose Gaetz during a meeting. The Justice Department launched a probe into Gaetz for the alleged s-- trafficking incident. Meanwhile, the House Ethics Committee also started investigating him on the same allegations.

Gaetz also revealed he would not return to Congress in 2025.

"I'm still going to be in the fight, but it's going to be from a new perch. I do not intend to join the 119th Congress," he told Charlie Kirk in an interview.

As controversies started surrounding Gaetz, Tesla CEO Elon Musk defended the 42-year-old lawyer and called the scandals "worth less than nothing."

"Matt Gaetz has 3 critical assets that are needed for the AG role: a big brain, a spine of steel and an axe to grind. He is the Judge Dredd America needs to clean up a corrupt system and put powerful bad actors in prison. Gaetz will be our Hammer of Justice," he wrote on X.

Musk later added, "Under our laws, a man is considered innocent until proven guilty. If AG Garland (an unprincipled d--------) could have secured a conviction against Gaetz, he would have, but he knew he could not. Case closed."

"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," Gaetz wrote in a post on November 21.

According to Gaetz, his confirmation in the nomination process "was unfairly becoming a distraction to the critical work of the Trump/[JD] Vance Transition."

Trump announced former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi would be his new pick after Gaetz's withdrawal.

One day after Gaetz withdrew from consideration as Trump's attorney general pick, he joined the website Cameo, where he began making personalized videos for a fee.

According to Semafor, he initially charged $250 per video before he increased the fee to $525 per clip.

Gaetz also started promoting his account on the platform through his bio on X.