Former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) reportedly withdrew his nomination to be President-elect Donald Trump’s next attorney general just minutes after CNN questioned him about allegations of a second sexual encounter with a 17-year-old girl.
Gaetz told X that he was pulling his nomination right away, and Paula Reid of CNN said that the network had told him it was going to report that the House Ethics Committee had heard claims that he had sex with a 17-year-old girl at least twice.
“Gaetz withdrew from AG nomination 45 mins after we called to say we were going to report that ‘Ethics committee told there was a *second* sexual encounter between Gaetz and 17 year old in 2017,'” Reid said.
News outlets like CNN say that the 17-year-old girl told the Ethics Committee that she had sex with Gaetz and another adult woman. CNN said the woman also said she had testified about both encounters as part of a lawsuit.
Gaetz has said that he did not have sex with a 17-year-old girl. Gaetz quit Congress not long ago, before the Ethics Committee could release a report about him.
