Matt Gaetz says he will not return to Congress next year

WASHINGTON – Former Rep. Matt Gaetz said he will not rejoin Congress in January after dropping his bid to be President-elect Donald Trump's attorney general.

"I'm still going to be in the fight, but it's going to be from a new perch. I do not intend to join the 119th Congress," the Florida Republican told Charlie Kirk on Friday in his first interview since withdrawing his name from consideration on Thursday.

Gaetz's candidacy was dogged by allegations of sexual misconduct and it was clear that he would not get enough Republican votes in the Senate to be confirmed as the nation's top law enforcement official.

Trump announced Thursday night that he would instead nominate former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi for the post.

It was unclear whether Gaetz could or would retake his seat in the next Congress after he resigned from his seat last week.

"I am going to be fighting for President Trump, I'm going to be doing whatever he asks of me as I always have," he told Kirk. "But I think eight years is probably enough time in the United States Congress."

If Gaetz had chosen to return to his position, it is likely that the House Ethics Committee would release a report that could be damaging for the former congressman.

The Department of Justice – which Gaetz would have led if he had become attorney general – investigated allegations Gaetz committed statutory rape by paying for sex with a 17-year-old girl and for her to travel with him across state lines. That probe was dropped without charges.

But the House Ethics Committee, a bipartisan panel equally divided between Democrats and Republicans, was also investigating those and other allegations and had planned to vote on whether to release a report on their findings just two days after Gaetz abruptly resigned his House seat.

The House typically does not release findings on former members, though Democrats on the panel had pushed for it to be made public and several Republican senators had argued it was important for them to review the information as they considered his candidacy for attorney general.

A lawyer for two witnesses said his clients testified before the Ethics Committee about the allegations. One said she saw Gaetz allegedly under the influence of drugs and sexually abusing the 17-year-old, though she said she did not think Gaetz knew the girl's age. Gaetz has denied the allegations.

The committee met on Wednesday and deadlocked on whether to release the report. House Speaker Mike Johnson had urged the panel not to do so, arguing it would set a bad precedent to reveal the results of investigations against former members of Congress.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Matt Gaetz says he will not return to Congress next year