WASHINGTON — Former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., said Friday that he doesn’t plan to rejoin Congress after he withdrew his name from consideration to be President-elect Donald Trump’s attorney general amid sexual misconduct allegations.
“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,” Gaetz said in an interview with conservative commentator Charlie Kirk.
“There are a number of fantastic Floridians who stepped up to run for my seat, people who have inspired with their heroism, with their public service. And I’m actually excited to see Northwest Florida go to new heights and have great representation,” he added.
Gaetz said he’s been in elected office for 14 years, first being elected to Florida’s state House when he was 26 years old. “I’m 42 now, and I’ve got other goals in life that I’m eager to pursue — my wife and my family — and so I’m going to be fighting for President Trump,” he said. “I’ m going to be doing whatever he asks of me, as I always have. But I think that eight years is probably enough time in the United States Congress.”
Gaetz said it seems like “a pretty poetic time to allow that great new blood to come in, to allow my district to have high-quality representation.”
NBC News reached out to Gaetz’s former office in the House for comment.