Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) resigned from U.S. Congress effectively immediately after President-elect Donald Trump announced that he was being nominated to serve as U.S. Attorney General.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) announced at a press conference that Gaetz “issued his resignation letter effective immediately.”
He said that Gaetz’s resignation caught House Republican leadership by surprise.
“I asked him what the reasoning was, and he said, ‘Well, you can’t have too many absences,’” Johnson said. “So under Florida State law, there’s about an eight week period to select and fill in a vacant seat.”
Johnson said that he has already placed a call to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis to start the clock on filling Gaetz’s seat.
“If we start the clock now, if you do the math, we may be able to fill that seat as early as January 3, when we take the new oath of office for the…
