If Gaetz isn’t confirmed as AG, he still has his job in Congress. He was just re-elected on November 5.
Nope, re resigned.
House Speaker Mike Johnson announced later Wednesday that Gaetz offered his resignation from Congress effective immediately. With his resignation, the House Ethics Committee no longer has the jurisdiction to continue its investigation into him.
Johnson said the resignation took him by “surprise” but that the Florida congressman did so to “start the clock” on the process for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to call a special election to fill the vacancy.
If he does lose the AG nomination, and Johnson applies the “No Take-Backs” rule, we’re just going to laugh and laugh and laugh.
He resigned his current term. There is nothing preventing him from being sworn in January 3.
That’s not how anyone else is interpreting it. There’s the point I posted above about how they’re already starting the process to elect a replacement, plus this:
Gaetz’s resignation will narrow the slim majority that Republicans will have in the new Congress in January, but he represents a reliably Republican district in the Florida Panhandle.
It certainly seems like it applies to the new Congress.
ETA: More details
“I think, out of deference to us, he issued his resignation letter effective immediately, of Congress,” Johnson said. “That caught us by surprise a little bit, but I asked him what the reasoning was and he said, well, you can’t have too many absences, so under Florida state law there’s about an eight-week period to select and fill a vacant seat.”
Johnson said he is hopeful the seat could be filled by Jan. 3, when the new Congress is sworn in.
Then it will be just one more thing to gnash your teeth over when he is sworn in January. But yeah, “He can’t do that!” will stop him, I’m sure.
If Trump wants him in Congress, he will be in Congress.
Someone told me yesterday that DeSantis is going too replace him with Lara Trump. Were they just messin’ with me?
Probably just mistaken. Vacant Senate seats can be filled by gubernatorial appointment, but vacant House seats must be filled by special election.
Probably talking about Rick Scott, actually.
Sounds a lot like North Korea, where you can get in serious trouble for things like not applauding Dear Leader enthusiastically enough. And that’s not a coincidence. Trump has been open about how much he admires dictators and their obedient sycophants.
To this point, remember his cabinet meeting in his first term, where they went around the table specifically praising him?
Rick Scott isn’t going anywhere.
That we know of.
But I got nothing else. Empty House seats are filled by election. Can’t even recess appoint them. And if we’re talking extra-legal, then none of it matters, anyway.
Or messin’ with me. Old ladies can be fair game. Although nothing would surprise me about the trump takeover.
Oh sure, Susan. I can see why you’d be shocked. After all, who could ever foresee that a corrupt, venal, unqualified, and incompetent chief executive would choose corrupt, venal, unqualified, incompetent people to staff his administration? 
She must actually be surprised. She skipped right over concerned
I don’t think Trump will want him in Congress. Gaetz is of little use to him there, as there are plenty of other GOP flunkies who could take his place. Trump will be furious (but not surprised because…troll) if Gaetz isn’t confirmed and no doubt will refuse to be thwarted. He’ll appoint him to some position where Gaetz be in our faces every day.
Don’t forget the 6th that says there are only two jurisdictions in the United States: common law and admiralty law.
It would have to. What would be the point of resigning only in his current term, when a cabinet appointment doesn’t happen until Trump is POTUS, which won’t be until the next term?
That’s sort of like someone saying that they’re traveling to Europe next week, so they’ll be taking a week off, and you assume they’re only taking vacation this week.
For the simple reason that it allows him to avoid discipline for sexual misconduct by the Ethics Committe, which expires at the end of this term.
That would be a reason, sure, but…
Johnson on Wednesday evening said the Florida Republican decided to leave the House early to speed up the process to replace him, with hopes that his successor can be decided by the time the new Congress is sworn in on Jan. 3. House Republicans are on track to have a razor-thin majority next year, which is set to slim even more as Trump continues nominating House Republicans for his administration.
So two things:
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One of the reasons for resigning was a step in making himself available to serve as AG.
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They’re filling his seat to try to maintain a majority in the next term, so obviously he’s out.
Let me also add that resigning just means they can’t expel him because he expelled himself.