Eight tumultuous days after US President-elect Donald Trump picked Matt Gaetz to be attorney general, the firebrand congressman has withdrawn from consideration for the post.

It was a nomination that stunned Washington and sent a shiver through the corridors of the justice department.

Trump settled on Gaetz, 42, during a two-hour flight from Washington to Florida last week, according to reports.

Still basking in the glow of his election victory, the president-elect was flying back to West Palm Beach last Wednesday afternoon after a cordial meeting with President Joe Biden.


That morning Gaetz was not even on the shortlist for the position of America’s top law officer, according to Politico, but Trump had felt underwhelmed by his other options.

A plan hatched on a plane

On so-called Trump Force One that day were Gaetz himself, Elon Musk, Trump’s incoming White House chief of staff, Susie Wiles, and his top legal adviser, Boris Epshteyn, reports the New York Times.

Epshteyn reportedly set about convincing Trump that Gaetz should lead the justice department, which had conducted a sex-trafficking investigation into the lawmaker before dropping the matter.

The allegation that Gaetz had sex with a minor, which he denies, was set to dominate and probably torpedo his nomination process.

Losing his first choice is a setback to Trump and shows the reluctance of the Senate in ushering through a man who has no shortage of enemies in Congress.

The woman Trump has picked instead, another Floridian Pam Bondi, would seem to have more allies and a smoother path ahead.

Gaetz, a lawyer, has been one of Trump’s most strident defenders on Capitol Hill.

He helped prepare the Republican nominee for his televised debate against Biden that effectively knocked the Democrat out of the White House race.

One Trump adviser explained why the president-elect - who has himself been criminally investigated by the justice department, and accuses its prosecutors of witch hunts - took a shine to Gaetz as opposed to other contenders.

“Everyone else looked at AG [attorney general] as if they were applying for a judicial appointment,” the unnamed aide told the Bulwark.

“Gaetz was the only one who said, ‘Yeah, I’ll go over there and start cuttin’ [expletive] heads.’”