Former candidate for Minister of Justice Matt Gaetz said he’s serious about being done with Congress, though he’s ready to do “whatever” the president-elect Donald Trump might ask him next.

Friday, November 22, the recently resigned Florida congressman shared in an interview with a right-wing personality Charlie Kirk that he has “other goals in life” he wants to pursue and does not intend to return to the House after retiring his nomination of Attorney General in the midst of a sex-for-hire scandal on November 21.

“I will still be in the fight, but it will be from a new seat,” said Gaetz, 42. “I had no intention of joining the (coming) 119th Congress. There are a number of great Floridians who stepped up to run for my seat, people who have inspired with their heroism, their public service. I’m actually happy to see Northwest Florida go to new heights and have great representation.”

Gaetz — who has long denied allegations related to sex trafficking, sexual misconduct with minors and illegal drug use — added that even if he doesn’t become the next attorney general, he still plans to “fight for President Trump” and do “whatever he asks of me as I always have done,” calling his eight years in Congress “probably enough time.”

The politician has previously been investigated by the Ministry of Justice in a sex-trafficking surveyalthough the federal government refused to press charges. The House Ethics Committee then began investigating similar allegations, and when it was announced they may release their findings this month, Gaetz resigned his congressional seat.

Speaking with Kirk on Friday, Gaetz also praised former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondiwhom Trump nominated for attorney general hours after Gaetz withdrew his nomination. He called Trump’s second choice a “phenomenal attorney general” as he praised her “legal acumen.”

“Although the road will take me to a different station in life and a different place to fight for our agenda, and President Trump, we have a great person in place,” he said.

Gaetz announced on X (formerly Twitter) Thursday that he is withdrawing his nomination after it “unfairly became a distraction” to the White House transition of Trump and vice president-elect JD Vance.

The politician wrote that he was “fully committed to seeing that Donald J. Trump is the most successful president in history,” while explaining that he would not be ready to take on the responsibility so soon given his scandal.

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New nominee Bondi, 59, has a history of working as a lobbyist for the Qatari government, a lawyer at the Trump-aligned think tank America First Policy Institute and a Fox News contributor. She promoted the president-elect’s false claims of voter fraud after she left state office in 2019.

“For too long, the partisan Justice Department has been a weapon against me and other Republicans — no longer,” Trump said in announcing Bondi’s nomination on Nov. 21.