WASHINGTON (OSV News) — Former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., withdrew Nov. 21 as President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for attorney general amid controversy about a federal sex trafficking investigation that imperiled his ability to be confirmed by the Senate. Hours later, Trump named former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi as his choice instead.
Also in Washington, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, an independent, bipartisan U.S. federal government commission that monitors religious freedom around the globe, held a hearing Nov. 19 to examine the challenges presented by nonstate actors to religious freedom abroad.
Gaetz withdraws as nominee for attorney general
Gaetz’s withdrawal from the nomination process averts what would likely have been a contentious confirmation battle that would have been a test case for whether or not Senate Republicans would support all of Trump’s Cabinet picks.
“While the momentum was strong, it is clear that my confirmation was unfairly becoming a distraction to the critical work of the Trump/Vance Transition,” Gaetz said shortly after meetings with senators in which he sought their support to lead the Justice Department as the nation’s top federal law enforcement officer.
Although a yearslong Justice Department investigation into sex trafficking allegations surrounding Gaetz did not result in criminal charges, he was still under investigation by the House Ethics Committee until his Nov. 13 resignation made him a former member of Congress, placing him outside the committee’s jurisdiction. But ABC News reported that the woman at the center of that investigation told the Ethics Committee the now-former Florida congressman had sex with her when she was 17 years old. Gaetz denied that allegation in a statement to the network.
Robert P. George, a Catholic American legal scholar and McCormick professor of jurisprudence at Princeton University, wrote in a post on X, formerly Twitter, Gaetz’s withdrawal “is in the interest, first and above all, of the nation. It’s also in the interest of President-elect Trump and his administration and the Republican Party.”
“Indeed, it’s in the interest of Mr. Gaetz himself,” George added. “There are many outstanding, experienced, reform-minded lawyers from whom the President-elect can choose an Attorney General. I hope he does the nation and himself a good service by choosing one of them.”
Bondi, Trump said in a Nov. 21 statement, “was very tough on Violent Criminals, and made the streets safe for Florida Families. Then, as Florida’s first female Attorney General, she worked to stop the trafficking of deadly drugs, and reduce the tragedy of Fentanyl Overdose Deaths, which have destroyed many families across our Country.”
“For too long, the partisan Department of Justice has been weaponized against me and other Republicans – Not anymore,” he added. “Pam will refocus the DOJ to its intended purpose of fighting Crime, and Making America Safe Again. I have known Pam for many years — She is smart and tough, and is an AMERICA FIRST Fighter, who will do a terrific job as Attorney General!”
Among Trump’s other announced selections this week were former Wisconsin Rep. Sean Duffy as transportation secretary, and television personality Dr. Mehmet Oz as Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services administrator.
Duffy, a former cast member on MTV reality shows, is Catholic. He and his wife, Rachel Campos-Duffy, a Fox News host, have nine children.
Hearing examines non-state actors who present challenges to religious liberty abroad
Stephen Schneck, USCIRF chair, said while the organization monitors the roles of countries that violate international religious freedom standards, what it calls entities of particular concern, or “non-state actors who operate beyond the control of sovereign governments” sometimes cause “massive devastation in the lives of individuals, families and communities in the name of religion or belief.”
Panelists at the hearing urged efforts be fostered to strengthen interfaith dialogue through both international and local organizations, as well as empowering and investing in civil society groups, democracy groups, civil rights groups, and women’s rights groups abroad that have local cultural knowledge and to more effectively counter extremist ideologies.
Hearing examines 1989 murder of Irish human rights lawyer
A Nov. 19 congressional hearing chaired by Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., included the widow and three adult children of the late Northern Ireland human rights attorney Patrick Finucane, a Catholic who was murdered Feb. 12, 1989, when he was gunned down in his Belfast home in front of his family by paramilitary gunmen.
Finucane’s death was among controversial killings during the “Troubles,” or a decades-long religious conflict in Northern Ireland that claimed the lives of more than 3,000 people.
U.K. Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Hilary Benn said in September that the British government’s commitment “to establish an inquiry into the death of Mr Finucane remains unfulfilled,” and that he would “establish an independent inquiry into the death of Patrick Finucane under the 2005 Inquiries Act.”
Smith said that in the more than three decades since the murder, “the Finucane family has steadfastly and honorably pursued an independent public inquiry into the state-sponsored collusion and brutal murder which took the life of leading human rights attorney Pat Finucane, husband and father of three children.”
Finucane’s widow, Geraldine Finucane, said at the hearing, “If an inquiry into the murder of Pat Finucane can finally examine publicly all of the collusion that plagued our society for so many years, there is hope that the real process of healing can begin.”
Smith, who is co-chair of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, added that the family “left no stone unturned in their skillful, tireless, legal pursuit.”
“The Finucane family’s admirable and unyielding dedication to truth and justice — in the face of tremendous government and paramilitary opposition — righty reflects the work and legacy of Pat and a family committed to the rule of law,” Smith said.
Kate Scanlon is a national reporter for OSV News covering Washington. Follow her on X (formerly Twitter) @kgscanlon.
