Gaetz debacle has Trump team cooling efforts to bully GOP lawmakers

The short-lived nomination of ex-Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) to be the next attorney general, which fell apart over a reportedly damaging House Ethics Committee report, has led to a rollback by Donald Trump and his team to get GOP senators to rubberstamp all his other nominees.

According to a report from the Washington Post, the Gaetz debacle that played out over days and led the embattled Florida Republican to withdraw his name for consideration abruptly Thursday afternoon, was a lesson to the president-elect to listen to Republicans in Congress more closely.

The Post is reporting, Trump's "team is taking a more cooperative approach to the upper chamber after initially demanding to bypass confirmation hearings and votes," adding there was great relief in Congress with Gaetz out of the way.

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The report notes, "Senate Republicans welcomed the rapid substitution of former Florida attorney general Pam Bondi as Trump’s pick for attorney general after Gaetz announced his withdrawal. One aide, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private conversations, said the Gaetz withdrawal was more of a learning experience for the Senate and Trump than a setback."

As for the Gaetz withdrawal, the Post is reporting that he knew his nomination would be shadowed by the as-yet unreleased report which led to his stepping away from his seat in the House before news reports broke on it and with the report calling it a "sequence of events that angered Trump."

You can read more here.