Hi there, everyone, four o'clock in New York.

That was fast.

It could have been one of the first political flashpoints of the new Trump era is over.

And it ended not with the bang, but a bit of a whimper.

Matt Gates today withdrawing his nomination

for Attorney General in a post saying this, quote, there is no time to waste on the needlessly

protracted Washington's scuffle. His withdrawal comes after a day spent on Capitol Hill talking

to Republican senators alongside J.D. Vance and amid a steady drip, drip, drip of cedey revelations out of the

investigations into Matt Gates that would ultimately turn into a flood. The latest bombshell

dropping just minutes after Gates withdrew. According to a source familiar with the matter,

the House Ethics Committee was told that a woman had two separate sexual encounters

with Matt Gates at the same party in 2017 when she was just 17 years old. CNN was first

to report that news. They say that Gates withdrew his nomination just 45 minutes after CNN called

to say that it was going to report on that 2017 incident.

And just last night, the New York Times out with a bombshell piece of reporting of their own.

They reported on findings by the Justice Department.

A document obtained by the time shows this, quote,

federal investigators have established a web of payments among Matt Gates and dozens

of friends and associates who are said to have taken part with him in drug-fueled sex parties.

Among those who received money from Gates were two women who have testified that he hired them

for sex. That's according to the document and a lawyer for the two women.

The lawyer said payments to the women ultimately totaled around $10,000. The document does not show what

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