Gaetz's withdrawal highlights how incoming presidents often lose Cabinet nominees

MARTIN, Tenn. — Losing a Cabinet nominee to the confirmation process isn't unheard of for incoming presidents — including for Donald Trump when he was elected the first time.

Matt Gaetz's decision to pull his name Thursday from consideration for attorney general — amid continued fallout over a federal sex trafficking investigation — represents the first indication of resistance that the president-elect could face from his own party, including picks facing allegations of sexual misconduct or other questions.

Here's a look at some recent difficulties with presidential Cabinet picks and some of the criticism for Trump's current slate:

Republicans voicing their doubts

After Gaetz was chosen last week, Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Judiciary Committee member who is among Trump's top Senate allies, predicted Gaetz would “have to answer some tough questions” in a confirmation hearing.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, a Trump critic, said of Gaetz, “I do not see him as a serious candidate.”

Other Trump picks face questions, too.

Pete Hegseth, Trump’s pick for defense secretary, was accused by a woman of sexually assaulting her in 2017. Hegseth has denied her allegations.

Tulsi Gabbard, the former Democratic congresswoman chosen to be director of national intelligence, has expressed sympathy for Russia and repeated false Russian theories about Ukrainian bioweapons. Gabbard, a military veteran who became one of Trump’s top 2024 surrogates, has attracted criticism for meeting with Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad and has voiced skepticism that Assad was behind chemical attacks on his own people.

Nikki Haley, who was the last major GOP opponent against Trump for this year’s presidential nomination, argued against confirming Gabbard, saying the post was “not a place for a Russian, Iranian, Syrian, Chinese sympathizer.”

Haley also said Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — Trump's pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services — should face “hard questions” from senators due to his opposition to vaccines and other views decried by public health officials.

“He’s a liberal Democrat, environmental attorney trial lawyer who will now be overseeing 25% of our federal budget and has no background in healthcare,” Haley said. “So some of you may think RFK is cool, some of you may like that he questions what’s in our food and what’s in our vaccines, but we don’t know, when he is given reins to an agency, what decisions he’s going to make behind the scenes.”

Republicans will have 53 votes in the Senate in January and can break 50-50 ties with Vice President-elect JD Vance. That means four Republicans would have to break ranks to defeat any nominee if all Democrats oppose a Trump pick.

This has happened before — including to Trump

Every recent president has had some doomed Cabinet nominations — including Trump himself.

In early 2017, Trump’s choice for labor secretary was the first Trump nominee to withdraw his name from consideration. Fast food CEO Andrew Puzder’s exit came after Republicans expressed concern over his failure to pay taxes promptly on a former housekeeper who wasn’t authorized to work in the U.S., and Democrats had complaints about Puzder’s business record and remarks about women and workers at his company, which owns Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr.

Puzder’s name has been floated recently again as a possible pick in Trump’s second administration.

Trump also ousted his first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, after just weeks on the job because Flynn wasn’t truthful about his contacts with Russian officials during the transition.

The first year of Trump’s first term, Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price resigned after his costly travel triggered investigations that overshadowed the administration’s agenda and angered his boss, serving less than eight months. According to the Brookings Institution, which tracks presidential administration turnover, Trump’s first term resulted in the turnover of a total of 14 people, nearly twice the amount — 8 people — of President George H.W. Bush’s term in office, a distant second place.

Other presidents' picks

Barack Obama, Bill Clinton and both Bush and his son George W. Bush all had to come up with new names after nominees for their Cabinets ran into trouble.

Obama took three tries to find a secretary of commerce. New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson withdrew his name after the word surfaced that a grand jury was investigating allegations of wrongdoing in the awarding of contracts in his state. Republican Sen. Judd Gregg of New Hampshire backed out citing “irresolvable differences” with the policies of the Democratic president.

In 2001, Linda Chavez — George W. Bush's pick for labor secretary — swiftly withdrew after it emerged that she had housed an immigrant living in the country illegally.

Bill Clinton went through several attempts at selecting an attorney general, nominating Janet Reno after both of his first two choices withdrew over word that they had hired people who had been in the U.S. illegally for household work and babysitting.

The Senate rejected George H.W. Bush’s defense secretary pick, former Texas Sen. John Tower, in 1989 after several waves of reports over allegations of alcohol abuse and womanizing.

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Associated Press writer Nancy Benac in Washington contributed to this report.