WASHINGTON ― Some members of the House of Representatives cheered Friday when the acting House clerk announced former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) wouldn’t be taking his seat in the new Congress.
“The clerk is in receipt of a letter from the Honorable Matt Gaetz of the state of Florida indicating that he will not serve in the House in the 119th Congress,” the clerk said.
Some members on both sides of the room, many of whom loathe Gaetz, applauded the news. (See video of the moment above.)
Gaetz won reelection, but resigned from Congress in November after President-elect Donald Trump announced he planned to nominate Gaetz to be his attorney general.
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Several Republican senators balked at the prospect of Gaetz, the subject of both a federal investigation and a congressional ethics probe into alleged sexual relations with a minor, and he wound up withdrawing himself from consideration.
Gaetz could still have taken his seat this month, since he won reelection in November, but he has instead launched a new career as a media personality on the far-right cable channel One America News Network.