CNN political commentator Shermichael Singleton reacted live to the announcement that former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) withdrew his bid to serve as the next U.S. attorney general on Thursday.

The conservative analyst told the CNN anchor Omar Jimenez that he was “not surprised” Gaetz made the decision to step away from the role while the former lawmaker added a “significant distraction” for the incoming Trump administration.

Before his nomination, Gaetz faced a House Ethics Committee investigation concerning allegations of sexual molestation against a minor.

I’m not surprised. I mean, I’ve been on the air since some of these names came out. And the biggest questions I’ve been asked, if it’s about Pete (Hegseth)if it’s about Tulsi Gabbardas I know personally, it really has been about Matthew Gaetz. Shermichael, can Matthew Gaetz be confirmed? And when you started to see even some very conservative, kind of ardent Trump supporters in the Senate come out and say, well, wait a minute, I want to see the ethics report. I have a lot of friends on Capitol Hill, on the House side, on the Senate side, working for members, working for various committees. And the former congressman just doesn’t have many friends, to be honest, Omar on Capitol Hill. So there was always a bridge. I would argue that maybe or a mountain that would have been too high or too steep for him to climb. So I think he made the right decision. But Omar, this goes back to the question you asked me a moment ago and the answer I gave.

You don’t want to spend that much political capital this early after you’ve won an election. There are so many exciting things that you want your president, your principal to be able to focus on. There are so many exciting things you want the Cabinet Secretaries to be able to focus on. There are a lot of different regulations that they may want to change as directed by the executive. This is a significant distraction. So I think the former congressman made the right decision and now gives the transition team the opportunity to look at other names, to vet those other names well, give them to the president-elect with as much information as possible so that he can choose someone else.

Watch the clip above via CNN.

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