By Joe Light
Former Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz in a post on X said he would withdraw from consideration to become President-elect Donald Trump's attorney general, saying that his confirmation "was unfairly becoming a distraction to the critical work of the Trump/Vance Transition." Some investors are speculating that the news could spell trouble for Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s chances of running the Department of Health and Human Services.
After the Gaetz announcement, shares of vaccine makers Moderna and Novavax both rose. Moderna moved up as much as 5.1% to $38.82 before giving up some of its gains. Novavax spiked about 3.2% to $8.34 in the half-hour after the announcement before similarly retreating.
Kennedy is a vaccine skeptic and a staunch critic of the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries and his nomination had led the stocks of Moderna, Novavax and other healthcare companies to drop.
"The thought process is, with one of the most controversial nominees out of the picture, it now puts RFK as the debatably the most polarizing cabinet member that has been put up," says Jared Holz, a healthcare equity strategist at Mizuho. "Investors now believe there is a higher chance that if one of Trump's picks were to be denied by the Senate, [Kennedy] could prove to be the fall guy."
The Gaetz resignation underscores that Trump's preferred nominees will have to pass muster with the Senate before taking power. Trump himself had argued that Congress should allow him to use recess appointments to appoint his slate of nominees, a gambit that might have allowed Gaetz, Kennedy and others to avoid scrutiny that might tank their nominations.
With Republican senators showing that's a line they won't cross -- at least for Gaetz -- that seems less likely. What's more, since Gaetz withdrew even before his candidacy was reviewed by the committee, Republicans didn't spend any political capital themselves to sink the nomination, which puts them in a better position to oppose Kennedy.
Still, the concerns facing RFK for now don't seem to rival those of Gaetz, who faced criminal investigations into sex trafficking and sex with a minor. Those investigations ended without him being charged. Gaetz denied wrongdoing.
A House ethics committee was on the cusp of releasing its own report into the allegations against Gaetz when he resigned from Congress after Trump's announcement that he would be nominated.
"There is no time to waste on a needlessly protracted Washington scuffle, thus I'll be withdrawing my name from consideration to serve as Attorney General," Gaetz wrote.
Trump in a post on TruthSocial said that in seeking the nomination Gaetz "was doing very well but, at the same time, did not want to be a distraction for the Administration."
"Matt has a wonderful future, and I look forward to watching all of the great things he will do!" Trump wrote.
Gaetz's nomination looked doomed almost from the start. Republican senators including Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine said they had serious doubts that he should be confirmed. Even with a 53-47 majority in the Senate next year, Gaetz appeared likely to lose enough lawmakers to sink his nomination. Some senators who met with Gaetz earlier this week only said that he deserved to be heard at a confirmation hearing.
Some senators said they wanted to see the results of the House Ethics Committee report into the allegations against Gaetz. House Republicans on Wednesday blocked the release of the results of the investigation but agreed to meet again in December, when the report is set to be finalized.
Trump didn't indicate who might take Gaetz's place as nominee.
Trump transition spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said: "President Trump remains committed to choosing a leader for the Department of Justice who will strongly defend the Constitution and end the weaponization of our justice system. President Trump will announce his new decision when it is made."
Trump last week nominated as deputy attorney general Todd Blanche, who led his defense team at the hush-money criminal trial that ended in the former president's conviction. He also said Emil Bove, another one of his defense attorneys, would be principal associate deputy attorney general and would be acting attorney general during Blanche's confirmation.
"These are credible former prosecutors," said former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie at a meeting of the Council on Foreign Relations earlier this week. Christie, who himself was a federal attorney, noted there's a history of presidents installing their personal attorneys atop the Justice Department.
"If the Senate were not to confirm Matt Gaetz, do I think that would be his next choice? I think it would," Christie said of Blanche.
--Matt Peterson and Josh Nathan-Kazis contributed to this article
Write to Joe Light at joe.light@barrons.com
This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 21, 2024 15:34 ET (20:34 GMT)
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