Gaetz Reportedly Withdrew From AG Consideration After Trump Told Him He Didn’t Have the Votes

Matt Gaetz withdrew his name from consideration to be the next attorney general after President-elect Donald Trump called him to say he lacked the votes needed in the Senate.

Gaetz issued a statement on Thursday saying he was withdrawing because “it is clear that my confirmation was unfairly becoming a distraction to the critical work of the Trump/Vance Transition.”

Shortly after, CNN reported that before he withdrew, it contacted Gaetz to inquire about an allegation he had a threesome involving a 17-year-old girl. And a few hours after that report, CNN said Trump phoned Gaetz on Thursday morning and told him his nomination is dead on arrival.

Kristen Holmes joined CNN’s The Situation Room, where she explained.

“We are told by a source with direct knowledge of the call that Donald Trump called Matt Gaetz this morning and told him that he did not believe that he had the votes in the Senate to get confirmed,” she said. “Now, this source did insist that Trump did not pressure Gaetz to drop out… but instead, that he let Gaetz come to that conclusion on his own.”

Holmes went on to note that Trump had lobbied several Republican senators who had been skeptical of Gaetz.

Gaetz’s nomination shocked even members of Trump’s party, many of whom questioned the wisdom of nominating a man who was investigated by the Department of Justice and the House Ethics Committee over allegations he had sex with a 17-year-old girl. The DOJ wrapped up its probe and declined to bring charges. Meanwhile, the Ethics Committee has so far refused to release its findings after Gaetz resigned from Congress last week. The former lawmaker vehemently denies wrongdoing.

GOP senators who were cool to the nomination included Susan Collins (R-ME), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), John Cornyn (R-TX), Mitch McConnell (R-KY), and Markwayne Mullin (R-OK). Beginning in January, Republicans will control the Senate 53-47, and so Gaetz could not afford to have more than three Republicans vote against his nomination.

Watch above via CNN.