What to know about Matt Gaetz

• Gaetz, a Trump loyalist despised by many of his colleagues, is a scandal-prone MAGA provocateur. In the nation's highest law enforcement role, he was expected to carry out Trump's threats to investigate adversaries.

State of play: Gaetz's withdrawal marks a setback for Trump in placing his allies in Cabinet positions.

• Gaetz resigned from Congress shortly after the nomination was announced, triggering the eight-week process it takes to fill Florida's House seat under state law, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) told reporters.

Background

Gaetz was raised in Fort Walton Beach, Florida, and comes from a prominent political family and has self-identified as a "libertarian populist."

• He graduated from the William & Mary Law School in Virginia in 2007 and was admitted to the Florida Bar the following year.
• From 2010 to 2016, he served in the Florida House of Representatives before being elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, where he has won reelection every two years since 2016.

Sexual misconduct and trafficking investigations

The Department of Justice last year decided not to bring charges against Gaetz over sex trafficking allegations.

• The investigation was centered around his alleged involvement with a 17-year-old and whether he paid for sex or for women to travel for sex.
• Gaetz, 42, denied all allegations against him, including having sex with a minor, and framed the DOJ investigation as an effort to extort him.
• The House Ethics Committee was investigating him for allegations including sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, accepting improper gifts, dispensing special privileges and favors to individuals with whom he had a personal relationship, and seeking to obstruct government investigations of his conduct. He denied any wrongdoing.
• The House Ethics Committee voted against releasing its investigation report after Gaetz's resignation.

Trump and the 2020 election

The pro-Trump firebrand was among 147 Republicans who voted to overturn Trump's loss in the 2020 presidential election.

• Gaetz has pushed baseless conspiracy theories that Antifa was responsible for the Capitol riot.
• Following the Jan. 6 attack, he and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) went on an "America First Tour" in which they raised Trump's false claims of election fraud.

Other controversies

Gaetz has come under fire for several other controversial acts, including when he invited a Holocaust denier to the 2018 State of the Union address.

• The following year, he hired a speech writer who was fired by the Trump administration after speaking at a conference featuring white nationalists.
• During his 2021 tour with Taylor Greene, Gaetz said "the Second Amendment is about maintaining within the citizenry the ability to maintain an armed rebellion against the government of the United States, if that becomes necessary."
• The anti-abortion politician in 2022 called women who attend pro-abortion rights rallies "ugly" and overweight.

McCarthy rift

Gaetz led the successful charge to remove then-Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) as speaker last year. McCarthy alleged the ethics probe into Gaetz was the impetus for the ouster.

• Gaetz had threatened to introduce a motion to vacate if McCarthy allowed a continuing resolution to stop a government shutdown to come to the House floor.
• McCarthy pinned his ouster on Gaetz's desire for him to end the Florida lawmaker's congressional ethics investigation.
• In response, Gaetz called him a liar.

More from Axios:

• Trump's middle finger: Gaetz for attorney general
• Trump dares Senate Republicans with Gaetz nomination
• Republicans "stunned and disgusted" as Trump taps Matt Gaetz for AG
• Trump administration 2.0: Tracking his Cabinet, White House picks

Editor's note: This story has been updated with Gaetz's withdrawal from consideration.