A member of the Republican Party and a self-described libertarian populist, Gaetz is widely regarded as a proponent of far-right politics as well as a staunch ally of Donald Trump.

[2] On November 13, 2024, President-elect Donald Trump announced he would nominate Gaetz to serve as United States attorney general, which some Senate Republicans received poorly.

[20] In a crowded Republican primary that included Craig Barker, Kabe Woods, Jerry G. Melvin, and Bill Garvie, Gaetz won with 43 percent of the vote.

[30] Gaetz, the chairman of the Criminal Justice Subcommittee, was tasked with reviewing the legislation; he announced before hearings that he would not support changing "one damn comma", but said he would listen to both sides' testimony.

[38] On March 21, 2016, Gaetz withdrew from the race, choosing instead to run for the U.S. House seat representing Florida's 1st congressional district; the incumbent, Jeff Miller, had announced 11 days earlier that he would not seek reelection.

[49][50] After the 2020 State of the Union Address, Gaetz filed an ethics complaint against speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, arguing that she had committed a "flagrant violation of decorum" and perhaps broken the law by ripping up her copy of the speech.

[88] Politico reported in April 2020 that Gaetz had spent nearly $200,000 of taxpayer funds renting an office from Collier Merrill, a Pensacola real estate developer and restaurateur and longtime friend, adviser, campaign donor, and legal client.

[92] Gaetz's office acknowledged that he spent $28,000 on speech-writing services, which is prohibited by House rules except in special circumstances and with prior approval from congressional officials, but said that it was a clerical error that would be fixed.

[148] On April 6, The New York Times reported that during the final weeks of Trump's first presidency, Gaetz privately asked the White House for a blanket pardon for himself and some unknown congressional allies for any crimes they may have committed.

"[164] In October 2019, Gaetz organized a "storming" of a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility on Capitol Hill by about two dozen Republican congressmen, including House minority whip Steve Scalise, in an effort to sit in on and hear the deposition of a Pentagon official during the impeachment inquiry into Trump.

"[167] A day later, Jordan appeared on Fox News to justify the intrusion, saying of the chair of the committee: "Adam Schiff is doing this unfair, partisan process in secret and our members finally said, 'Enough'.

[188][non-primary source needed][189] Gaetz proposed legislation to abolish the Environmental Protection Agency in January 2017, claiming that it hurts small businesses via the costs associated with compliance.

[193] Gaetz and Democratic Representative Scott Peters introduced the bipartisan Super Pollutants Act, which aimed to slow climate change by regulating greenhouses gases, especially black carbon, hydrofluorocarbons, and methane, in 2019.

[207] According to Gaetz's report, Niger has not authorized flights for United States Department of Defense efforts, including the sending of food, equipment, mail, or medical supplies.

We need PATRIOTS who will defend her"[210] in support of Kyle Rittenhouse, a 17-year-old from Antioch, Illinois, who traveled to Kenosha, Wisconsin, and shot and killed two people in self-defense during the protests of the Jacob Blake shooting.

[216] When Gaetz served in the Florida House of Representatives, he led an unsuccessful effort to allow Floridians with concealed-weapons permits to carry those weapons openly in public.

[220][221] Immediately before his remarks on the Second Amendment, Gaetz criticized Big Tech companies for trying to "suppress us, discourage us", saying, "Silicon Valley can't cancel this movement, or this rally, or this congressman".

[225] The full title of the bill is "To prohibit Federal funds from being used to implement, administer, enforce, or carry out programs with respect to digital health passes, and for other purposes.

[234] The EcoHealth Alliance later said that, under the grant, it had enhanced a bat coronavirus so it became potentially more infectious to humans, which the NIH said was an "unexpected result" of the research it had funded that was carried out in partnership with the Wuhan Institute.

[238] After a contentious House committee hearing on June 10, 2021, Gaetz said a Chinese whistle-blower possessed text messages and documents concerning COVID-19's origins that US government investigators had failed to pursue.

'"[241][242] Olivia Julianna, a Texas teenager, tweeted a post mocking Gaetz, who responded with a photo of her that, according to NPR, implied his comments had touched a nerve; she used the incident to raise over $2 million for abortion funds.

[68] Former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson wrote in her memoir that, during a trip to Camp David in 2020, Gaetz made "repeated passes" at her and asked her to "escort" him to his room.

[274] According to CNN, a person briefed on the matter said investigators also examined whether Gaetz used campaign money in his relationships with young women for travel and expenses and whether cash and drugs were involved.

[275] Gaetz was reportedly joined by marijuana entrepreneur and hand surgeon Jason Pirozzolo, who allegedly paid trip accommodations, traveling expenses, and escort services.

[302] Gaetz sent Axios screenshots of text messages, emails and documents outlining the alleged extortion scheme, which he asserted was being run by David McGee,[303] a former federal prosecutor who has been a private attorney since 2005[304] and has represented the Levinson family.

Gaetz's new communications director, Joel Valdez, told Forbes that "all of the office's eight female staffers signed it", but the version of the statement that was released did not have anyone's signature or identify any specific employee.

[325][326] Later in June, ABC News reported that the investigation had engulfed many in the Central Florida political scene and that prosecutors could decide whether to bring charges against Gaetz as early as July.

[327] In August, ABC News reported that Greenberg had "provided investigators with years of Venmo and Cash App transactions and thousands of photos and videos, as well as access to personal social media accounts".

"[340] Court documents filed in September 2024 stated that, according to multiple eyewitnesses, Gaetz had attended a party in 2017 alongside a 17-year-old girl, at the home of lobbyist Chris Dorworth where people engaged in sexual activities and did drugs, including cocaine, ecstasy, and cannabis.

[341][342] A September 2022 Washington Post article reported that prosecutors had recommended not to charge Gaetz in the sex trafficking investigation, telling Justice Department superiors that a conviction is unlikely in part because of credibility questions about the two central witnesses.