Matt Gaetz said he fell victim to a ‘smear’ campaign that dredged up old and discredited allegations in his first interview since withdrawing his name from consideration as Donald Trump’s attorney general.

And he revealed he will not be returning to Congress next year despite having been re-elected to the seat he vacated.

Instead, he told The Charlie Kirk Show, he will now work to recruit the talent that could help underpin the new Trump administration.

Gaetz, who sensationally dropped out on Thursday amid a drip, drip, drip of allegations from a House Ethics Committee probe into allegations that he had 𝑠e𝑥 with an underage girl.

He was a controversial choice from the outset as his resume lacked legal experience and he had been investigated by the department Trump had tapped him to run.

He has always denied the 𝑠e𝑥 scandal allegations.

‘There is a play that is run in Washington when they’re trying to smear somebody and, you know, they go and dredge up false, years old allegations of the most salacious and click-baity flavor possible. And in this case, they were,’ he said.

‘Those allegations were coming from sources that Merrick Garland’s DOJ already deemed not credible.’

However, he found himself up against a politically motivated body, he continued, because he triggered the process that ousted McCarthy last year.

‘All of them were hand-picked by Kevin McCarthy, and they had an axe to grind,’ he said,

‘So that was going to serve as at least enough of a basis to delay my confirmation as attorney general.

‘If the things [in] the House Ethics report were true, I would be under indictment and probably in a prison cell,’ he said, according to clips shared first with DailyMail.com.

‘But of course, they’re false, because when you test them against other records, when you test them against other testimony, it all falls apart very quickly.’

He said he was the victim of a politically motivated campaign because of his key role in forcing out Kevin McCarthy as House Speaker.

And he insisted he could have answered all the allegations during his confirmation hearings but that the process would have dragged on, undermining Trump’s plans to begin his overhaul of government on day one.

He also said that his replacement, former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, would be ‘phenomenal’ in the role.

‘And I could have answered all those questions. I could have engaged in a months long fact battle, but we don’t have months to go through that.

‘We’ve got to have an A.G,. ready to go day one to implement the immigration agenda and work on the other key policy deregulatory objectives of the president.’

He said he was encouraged by meetings on the Hill Wednesday, when he met with the key senators who would help guide his confirmation.

But in the end he announced he was dropping out late Thursday morning. Trump moved swiftly Thursday to name a replacement for Gaetz.

The former Florida congressman said Bondi would be ready to get to work on day one.

‘My good friend Pam Bondi is going to be a phenomenal Attorney General for Donald Trump,’ he said.

‘She has the legal acumen. She hates criminals. She is a bright legal mind and a fellow Floridian.

‘So I think that even though the path will take me to a different station in life and a different place to fight for our agenda and President Trump, we’ve got a great person in place.’

Gaetz added that he was ready to serve Trump however he wanted.

‘I’m still going to be in the fight, but it’s going to be from a new perch,’ he said.

‘I do not intend to join the 119th Congress. There are a number of fantastic Floridians who’ve stepped up to run for my seat, people who have inspired with their heroism, with their public service.’