Trump allies to Gaetz: Don't back down

The release of a House ethics report that alleges former Rep. Matt Gaetz had sex with a minor makes his return to elected office more precarious — yet several allies of President-elect Donald Trump urged him to stay in the game.

“Gaetz has to come back,” Steve Bannon, the onetime Trump adviser, said Monday on his “War Room” podcast. “Gaetz must return like Trump returned. Don’t back down — double down.”

The Republican ex-representative has denied the allegations in the 37-page ethics report that include accusations of illegal drug use and soliciting prostitutes. A Department of Justice investigation into his conduct yielded no charges.

Gaetz was forced to drop out of the confirmation process to be the next attorney general under Trump — in part due to concerns from senators over the ethics report. He had already resigned from Congress shortly after Trump announced him as the pick.

In recent weeks Gaetz has floated running for governor of Florida, Senate or returning to the House. Supporters like state Sen. Joe Gruters, whom the president-elect endorsed for Republican National Committee treasurer over the weekend, insisted he could still contemplate a return to public office.

“Matt Gaetz was fully cleared by a highly partisan DOJ, and the release of this report serves no purpose other than to attempt to damage his reputation by those with personal or political grievances against him,” Gruters said. “The public can see through these tactics, and Matt Gaetz continues to have a bright future in elected office or any other path he chooses to pursue.”

Asked about Gaetz’s political future, Florida-based Republican political operative Jamie Miller also raised the absence of DOJ charges and said that the newly released report put the matter in the “court of public opinion.”

“There doesn't seem to be new information in this report that hasn't been previously leaked,” he said. “The question becomes, does the public believe that these were youthful transgressions or do they see them as character flaws?”

A representative for the Trump transition did not immediately respond to questions over whether Gaetz might be considered for another role in the incoming administration.

Gaetz has a job lined up beginning in January, when he’ll be anchoring his own primetime show on the conservative One America News Network. Prominent trial attorney John Morgan also told POLITICO that he and Gaetz were discussing the possibility of him joining his firm, Morgan & Morgan.

Morgan was untroubled by the ethics report. He said he didn’t know if the allegations of illegal drug use were true, but argued that “many people” have used drugs. He also said Gaetz would have been prosecuted if the allegations of sex with a minor were true.

“If we start making people guilty based on rumors and vendetta then we are not who we are supposed to be,” said Morgan, who is friends with Gaetz but has given generously to Democratic campaigns over the years.

Gaetz could still become governor of Florida if he were to run when Gov. Ron DeSantis is termed out of office in 2026, given that he could win a plurality of voters during a Republican primary, Morgan added.

Gaetz never faced a difficult election in his ruby-red district, though after he led the push for ousting Kevin McCarthy as House speaker, the California Republican tried to wage a revenge campaign by unsuccessfully backing a GOP challenger in the 2024 election cycle.

One Florida-based Republican lobbyist, who was granted anonymity to speak candidly, said the fact that Gaetz had dropped out of the running for attorney general was worse for his political prospects than the ethics report release, given that Gaetz could cast the latter as a McCarthy-establishment move. But Trump had not shown a willingness to fight for Gaetz to be confirmed as attorney general.

The person refused to rule out the possibility that Gaetz’s political future was over, citing Trump’s ability to overcome indictments, convictions and impeachments.

“In the age of populism anything is possible,” the person said.

David Custin, a Republican political campaign consultant who counts Florida Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nuñez among his clients, agreed that Gaetz could still return to elected office.

“If the past decade in Florida and USA politics have taught us anything, it’s that you can't merely dismiss someone's political future based on accusations of wrongdoing,” he said. “Rep. Gaetz is innocent until proven guilty. His high IQ, political strengths and talent mean that his political future isn't limited.”

Gaetz floated coming back to Congress for a limited time, in light of the fact that the special election for his replacement is set for April 1. He said on X last week that he was considering going to Congress to be sworn in with the new House then file a privileged motion to “expose every ‘me too’ settlement paid using public funds” of former and current members. Afterward, he would resign and head to OAN.

Throughout the day on Monday, Gaetz posted on X what appeared to be transcribed interviews with witnesses, calling different allegations into question including that financial gifts to women could be characterized as prostitution.

“There is a reason they did this to me in a Christmas Eve-Eve report and not in a courtroom of any kind where I could present evidence and challenge witnesses,” he wrote.

Speaking at Turning Point’s AmericaFest in Phoenix on Sunday, Gaetz was coy about his future in politics, after acknowledging that there was “writing on the wall” surrounding his attorney general nomination that “would cause a delay of the important work that we see ahead.”

“Floridians have asked me to eye the governor's mansion in Tallahassee, maybe special counsel to go after the insider trading for my former colleagues in Congress,” Gaetz said. “It seems I may not have had enough support in the United States Senate, maybe I'll just run for Marco Rubio's vacant seat in the United States Senate and join some of those folks.”

“But for the moment, I'll enjoy being one of you,” Gaetz told the crowd.

Rubio’s seat will open up for an election in 2026 given that the senator is expected to be confirmed as secretary of state. Starting early next year, however, DeSantis will appoint someone to fill the seat in the meantime and that person could subsequently run for the seat as an incumbent.

No candidates have yet announced a Florida gubernatorial run for the 2026 contest. Trump hasn’t weighed into the forthcoming race, but his endorsement would likely carry significant weight, just as it did when he backed DeSantis during the 2018 Republican primary.

Several Florida Democrats have made it no secret that they hope Gaetz is the 2026 gubernatorial nominee so that they can have a shot at elected office in a once-battleground state that has swung heavily to Republicans and Trump in the last couple of election cycles.

"The findings from the House Ethics Committee report confirm that Matt Gaetz belongs nowhere near the halls of Congress or in any other elected office,” said Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried, who used to be friends with Gaetz several years ago when she was a marijuana lobbyist. “The truth always comes out in the end.”

Olivia Beavers contributed to this report.

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