Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) resigned from U.S. Congress effectively immediately after President-elect Donald Trump announced that he was being nominated to serve as U.S. Attorney General.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) announced at a press conference that Gaetz “issued his resignation letter effective immediately.”

He said that Gaetz’s resignation caught House Republican leadership by surprise.

“I asked him what the reasoning was, and he said, ‘Well, you can’t have too many absences,'” Johnson said. “So under Florida State law, there’s about an eight week period to select and fill in a vacant seat.”

Johnson said that he has already placed a call to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis to start the clock on filling Gaetz’s seat.

“If we start the clock now, if you do the math, we may be able to fill that seat as early as January 3, when we take the new oath of office for the new Congress,” Johnson said. “So Matt would have done us a great service by making that decision as he did on the fly, and so we’re grateful for that.”

NEWS

Speaker Johnson says that Congressman Matt Gaetz, the Attorney General-designate, has already submitted his letter of resignation as a member of Congress effective immediately.

Johnson says he believes this will allow Republicans to fill Gaetz’s seat by January 3rd. pic.twitter.com/vJFSmCtmHT

— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) November 14, 2024

Gaetz’s resignation ends a House investigation into explosive allegations made against the congressman, which he has vehemently denied.

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Punchbowl News reported that the House Ethics Committee was set to vote in two days on whether to release a report outlining the findings from its investigation.

🚨 🚨BREAKING NEWS FROM @PunchbowlNews :

Rep. Matt Gaetz’s (R-Fla.) resignation from Congress came two days before the House Ethics Committee was set to vote on releasing a “highly damaging” report outlining its investigation into the Republican, according to multiple sources…

— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) November 14, 2024

Trump officially nominated Gaetz, who is one of his most hardcore supporters and defenders, on Wednesday to serve as the next attorney general.

“Matt is a deeply gifted and tenacious attorney, trained at the William & Mary College of Law, who has distinguished himself in Congress through his focus on achieving desperately needed reform at the Department of Justice,” Trump posted on social media.

Trump said that ending the weaponization of the justice system was one of his top priorities and that Gaetz would focus on that issue along with prosecuting drug cartels.

“On the House Judiciary Committee, which performs oversight of DOJ, Matt played a key role in defeating the Russia, Russia, Russia Hoax, and exposing alarming and systemic Government Corruption and Weaponization,” Trump said.

“Matt will root out the systemic corruption at DOJ, and return the Department to its true mission of fighting Crime, and upholding our Democracy and Constitution,” he added. “We must have Honesty, Integrity, and Transparency at DOJ. Under Matt’s leadership, all Americans will be proud of the Department of Justice once again.”

Gaetz responded to the news by posting on X: “It will be an honor to serve as President Trump’s Attorney General!”