Matt Gaetz is following in the footsteps of another Republican who left Congress under a cloud of controversy … by joining Cameo.

A day after withdrawing from consideration as Donald Trump’s attorney general — and hours after the now-former Florida representative said in an interview that he would not return for the next Congress — Gaetz created an account on the app on which celebrities and other public figures can charge hundreds of dollars or more for personalized video messages.

“I served in Congress. Trump nominated me to be US Attorney General (that didn’t work out). Once I fired the House Speaker,” reads the profile for the “Former Florida Congressman” that’s charging upward of $500 a video. Semafor first reported Gaetz’s account.

Gaetz follows his one-time colleague, former Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) — who was expelled from Congress late last year after a scathing ethics report into his conduct — in attempting to cash in on his fame on Cameo. Santos, who lists himself as a “Former congressional ‘icon,’” charges upward of $250 for his videos.

Olivia Beavers contributed to this report.

The new member: Rep.-elect Kelly Morrison (D-Minn.)

How they got here: Morrison defeated her Republican opponent, Tad Jude, by 17 points in a suburban district that used to be solidly GOP but has favored Democrats in recent years. She’ll be replacing Rep. Dean Phillips, who is retiring after serving two terms in the House and mounting a primary challenge to Joe Biden last year.

Key issues: In the statehouse, under Gov. Tim Walz, Morrison helped write and pass bills shoring up the state’s protections for abortion patients and providers, laws that have made the state a destination for people from across the South and Midwest seeking to terminate a pregnancy.

She had hoped to do the same at the federal level. But now that Republicans have won a trifecta, she hopes to instead find common ground on policies like support for new parents and veterans, and plans to join fellow moderates in the New Democratic Coalition.

“My husband is a former Army Ranger and a combat veteran, and comes from a long tradition of military service, so veterans’ issues are near and dear to my heart and I’d be very interested in working to make sure that the people who have served us are getting the benefits that they need and deserve,” she said.

Background: Morrison, a sixth-generation Minnesotan raised by Republican parents, ran for the state Legislature in 2018 after practicing as an OB-GYN for about 20 years — motivated by Donald Trump’s win and his appointment of Supreme Court justices who later overturned Roe v. Wade.

“Those of us in the OB-GYN community knew what his presidency could mean,” she said. “We knew that was coming even before the leaked opinion.”

Campaign ads that caught our eye: Morrison put her medical credentials and pro-abortion-rights stance front and center, saying over footage of Republican male lawmakers that Congress “could really use an OB-GYN who will protect reproductive rights.” But she also stressed her moderate views and interest in compromise, pledging to “work with both parties” on issues from drug costs to public safety.

Fun fact: Until now, the ranks of OB-GYNs in Congress have been solely populated by conservative Republican men, including Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) and retiring Rep. Michael Burgess (R-Texas). Morrison argues the field has undergone a sea change in recent decades, becoming more progressive and diverse, and she hopes that is reflected on the Hill.

“Particularly at this moment in history, when we’re facing a Supreme Court hostile to women’s health, we need to have voices in Congress who have actually taken care of patients,” she said. “I think that we can provide important voices in helping to educate our colleagues and the American public.”

We’re spotlighting new members during the transition. Want more? Meet Reps.-elect Wesley Bell (D-Mo.) and George Latimer (D-N.Y.).

Former Wall Street regulator and Robinhood Chief Legal Officer Dan Gallagher said Friday he is not interested in taking over as SEC chair under President-elect Donald Trump.

Gallagher, who previously served at the SEC as a commissioner, was widely seen in Washington and on Wall Street as a leading contender to take over the top U.S. financial markets regulator under Trump.

“It is always an honor to have your name in the mix for an incredibly important job like SEC Chairman. However, I have made it clear that I do not wish to be considered for this position,” Gallagher said in a statement. “I am committed to Robinhood and our millions of customers who represent the new generation of retail investors.”

Other names that have circulated for SEC chair include Robert Stebbins, the agency’s former general counsel; Paul Atkins, another former SEC commissioner; and Brian Brooks, the one-time acting comptroller of the currency and a former cryptocurrency executive.

Yet, in Gallagher’s case, the question for many was whether he would want to leave Robinhood, a leading online brokerage. Gallagher said in his statement that he feels he “can make tremendous progress to democratize finance” in his current role.

“I will remain a vocal and consistent advocate for positive change in our markets,” Gallagher said, adding that he is “excited to work with the incoming Trump Administration, including the next SEC Chairman and the SEC staff, to promote innovation and provide more opportunity for retail investors.”

An incoming top White House aide to President-elect Donald Trump on Friday shut down speculation that former Rep. Mike Rogers of Michigan would lead the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

“It’s not happening,” Dan Scavino Jr., Trump’s incoming deputy chief of staff, wrote on X.

Scavino said he had spoken to the president-elect about Rogers, who for years has been floated to take over as FBI director.

Trump’s response, according to Scavino: “I have never even given it a thought.”

Rogers, a former FBI special agent and House Armed Services Chair who narrowly lost his Michigan Senate bid earlier this month, was endorsed by the FBI Agents Association in 2013 and 2017 to lead the agency. He was also under consideration for Defense secretary before Trump tapped Pete Hegseth, POLITICO reported.

But Rogers was also seen as an establishment figure — and with his Cabinet picks, Trump is doing all he can to subvert what his base calls the “deep state.”

Another reported top contender for the role, Kash Patel, who was principal deputy to Trump’s former acting Director of National Intelligence, said he would “shut down the FBI Hoover building on Day 1 and reopen it the next day as a museum of the deep state.”

Here’s what we’re watching in transition world today:

 🗓️ What we’re watching

Matt Gaetz’s abrupt withdrawal of his bid to be attorney general on Thursday could be bad news for another one of Trump’s picks: Pete Hegseth. 
Donald Trump spent his presidential campaign running from Project 2025, and now he’s using it to stock his White House and administration by tapping nearly a half-dozen Project 2025 authors and contributors. 

🚨What’s up with the nominees?

In 2016 comments resurfaced by CNN, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — Trump’s pick to lead the Health and Human Services Department — compared Trump to Adolf Hitler and disparaged his supporters on his podcast.
While Trump’s new choice for attorney general, Pam Bondi, might not be a household name, she has rallied behind the president-elect when he needed legal help, including after his 2020 election loss.
Current and former Defense Department officials are worried about how Pete Hegseth would treat women in the military.

📝ICYMI: Here are the latest Cabinet picks 

Bondi, the former attorney general of Florida, was chosen Thursday to be the nation’s top law enforcement official by Trump just hours after Matt Gaetz withdrew from consideration in the face of Senate opposition.

⏱️What Cabinet secretary announcements are we still waiting on?

Treasury
Agriculture
Labor
HUD
Trade

Vice President-elect JD Vance on Thursday held back-to-back meetings to sell Republican senators on Pete Hegseth’s nomination for Defense secretary. But that job as Donald Trump’s congressional whisperer just became more complicated, as Matt Gaetz withdrew from attorney general consideration — and new details came out about Hegseth.

California authoritieslate Wednesday night released a 2017 police report detailing a woman’s account of how Hegseth allegedly sexually assaulted her in a hotel room. The details add to the growing questions surrounding Hegseth’s ability to get confirmed to lead the Pentagon, though Hegseth on Thursday told reporters he was cleared of all charges.

“The matter was fully investigated, and I was completely cleared,” Hegseth said after his Vance meetings, which started soon after the reports were released.

But within minutes Thursday of Hegseth speaking to reporters, Gaetz in a post on social media declared that he was withdrawing as Trump’s pick to be the nation’s top law enforcement officer — a stunning reversal from just a week ago, when Trump surprised Washington by tapping the conservative firebrand to lead the Justice Department.

The two developments also put the spotlight on Vance, who was in the Capitol this week to help pave the way for Gaetz and Vance to be confirmed.

Trump deployed Vance to be his eyes and ears in the Senate and to help ensure that lawmakers quickly move the president-elect’s priorities and policy proposals, including his expiring tax cuts, efforts to manage tariffs and wholesale changes to the way his administration views health and education.

Vance’s deputy chief of staff, James Braid, was even tapped to become the congressional liaison for the Trump administration, a sign of the role Vance and his inner circle will play in shepherding Trump’s agenda through the House and Senate. Braid was spotted around the Capitol during Wednesday’s and Thursday’s meetings.

But less than 24 hours after Vance’s last meeting on Wednesday, Gaetz pulled out from his nomination. Many senators speculated on Thursday that Gaetz’s withdrawal indicated he did not have the support he needed in the Senate, which became clear after [Wednesday]’s meetings.

“I’m extremely grateful for the work Matt put into the nomination process. He made his decision to withdraw entirely out of respect for President Trump’s administration,” Vance said in a statement on Gaetz’s withdrawal. “Matt is a patriot and I look forward to seeing what he does next.”

Now, Vance’s next job will be getting Hegseth, a Fox News personality, through the Senate as he faces skepticism for lack of Pentagon or management experience. Hegseth was at the Capitol for a few hours on Thursday morning, meeting with key Republicans on the Senate Armed Services Committee such as Sens. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) and Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.).

At least two of Trump’s nominees — Hegseth and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — still face accusations of sexual misconduct, making Vance’s role more urgent and difficult.

Few concrete details were known about the accusations against Hegseth before the authorities released a 22-page report from the Monterey Police Department that provided a stark account from the woman and Hegseth over the 2017 incident. The woman, who was not identified, was helping organize an event of the California Federation of Republican Women which Hegseth was speaking at.

She told police that her memory was hazy but recalled that she ended up in a hotel [room?] with Hegseth, who had allegedly taken away her phone and blocked the door, preventing her from leaving. According to the report, she “remembered saying ‘no’ a lot.”

Hegseth, however, told police that the sexual encounter was consensual and throughout it was checking to make sure the woman was OK. Police launched the investigation into the incident after a nurse, who examined the woman who came to the facility four days after the incident seeking a sexual assault examination, reported it to police.

Hegseth later paid the woman an undisclosed sum in connection with a non-disclosure agreement. His lawyer told media outlets that Hegseth paid the woman because he feared he would get fired from his Fox job.

Police eventually forwarded the report to the Monterey County District Attorney’s Office. Prosecutors did not charge Hegseth with any crime.

“We take them each separately, and these would have been separated,” Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) said, when asked if Gaetz’ withdrawal puts more pressure on Hegseth. “Separated out and worked through.”

Yet other lawmakers are confident Vance, who served in the Senate for two years, can help carry out Trump’s agenda. Vance has strong ties in the House, such as with Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas). Other House members like Reps. John Duarte (R-Calif.) and Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-Wis.) appeared with Vance at fundraisers and campaign rallies. But at 40, he would be one of the youngest vice presidents in U.S. history as well as one of the least experienced in government.

A top general who oversaw the 82nd Airborne Division during the 2021 U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan was conspicuously left out of a large batch of military promotions approved Thursday by the Senate before it left town until December.

The apparent delay for Lt. Gen. Christopher Donahue — President Joe Biden’s nominee to lead the Army in Europe and Africa and set for promotion to four-star general — suggests a senator is holding the nomination. Donahue was one of nearly 1,000 promotions the Senate Armed Services Committee approved on Tuesday, and senators in the full chamber typically clear the decks of uniform nominees before an extended recess.

It’s unclear which senator might be delaying Donahue’s promotion and why. Such holds can be done anonymously and can still be bypassed by the full Senate, although the votes can eat up floor time.

Touted by the Army as the last U.S. service member out of Kabul, Donahue led the 82nd Airborne while it was responsible for securing the airfield at Hamid Karzai International Airport as Americans and refugees were evacuating the country ahead of the Aug 31, 2021, deadline to leave. A grainy photo of Donahue climbing aboard a cargo plane at the end of the evacuation instantly went viral at the time.

During the evacuation, a suicide bombing at the airport’s Abbey Gate killed 13 U.S. service members and more than 170 Afghans. Though U.S. Central Command conducted a review that found it was not preventable at a tactical level, some relatives of the slain service members, former generals and President-elect Donald Trump have criticized the administration’s policy decisions.

Trump met with relatives of the fallen service members and emphasized their loss in his campaign rhetoric, a move that he coordinated with his pick for national security adviser, Rep. Mike Waltz (R-Fla.). Vice President-elect JD Vance was also vocal about the attack, saying that Trump’s challenger, Vice President Kamala Harris, could “go to hell” for not holding anyone accountable.

In the last few days, there have been warning signs that those involved in the evacuation could face punishment. The Trump transition team is assembling a list of senior current and former U.S. military officers involved in the Afghanistan withdrawal and is considering the possibility of court-martialing them, NBC News reported.

Since 2022, Donahue has led the 18th Airborne Corps at Fort Liberty, North Carolina. He has also led Special Operations Joint Task Force Afghanistan and served as the Joint Chiefs of Staff’s deputy director for special operations and counterterrorism.

Senate leaders typically look to confirm most, if not all, military promotions at the end of a session — and a move to block an officer such as Donahue would be rare.

But officer promotions, which have long been uncontroversial, are increasingly becoming fair game. Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama took the unprecedented step of blockading several hundred promotions of general and flag officers for months last year in a bid to force the Pentagon to overturn policies aimed at helping troops access abortion.

Former Rep. Matt Gaetz is praising Donald Trump’s choice of fellow Floridian Pam Bondi to replace him as the attorney general nominee.

Gaetz said Bondi, the former attorney general of Florida, is a “stellar choice” to serve as the nation’s top law enforcement officer.

The two worked together when Gaetz served in Florida’s legislature.

“She’s a proven litigator, an inspiring leader and a champion for all Americans,” Gaetz said in a post on X. “She will bring the needed reforms to DOJ.”

His endorsement came hours after he withdrew his nomination for AG in the face of opposition in the Senate.