On Thursday, President-elect Donald Trump announced that Florida’s former attorney general, Pam Bondi will be US attorney general in his upcoming presidency just hours after his other choice, Matt Gaetz, withdrew his name.
Notably, Bondi is a longtime Trump ally and was one of his lawyers during his first impeachment trial when he was accused but not convicted of abusing his power as he tried to condition US military assistance to Ukraine on that country investigating then-former Vice President Joe Biden.
Moreover, she has been a chair at the America First Policy Institute, a think tank set up by former Trump administration staffers. Bondi is from Tampa and spent more than 18 years as a prosecutor. She was Florida’s first female attorney general.
“Pam will refocus the DOJ to its intended purpose of fighting Crime, and Making America Safe Again,” Trump wrote, adding that she is “smart and tough, and is an AMERICA FIRST Fighter. Trump has made several eye-catching selections for top roles, including Fox News host Pete Hegseth as defense secretary, vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as health secretary and billionaire Elon Musk to head a government cost-cutting unit.
The exit of Gaetz, 42, was the first setback for Trump and Vice-president elect JD Vance in placing key allies in top positions, but his confirmation by the Senate was widely seen as doomed due to lack of support from fellow Republicans. A congressional panel has been investigating alleged illegal activity by Gaetz, including sexual contact with a 17-year-old girl which he denies as well as drug use and misappropriating campaign funds.
“I had excellent meetings with Senators yesterday,” Gaetz said on X. “While the momentum was strong, it is clear that my confirmation was unfairly becoming a distraction to the critical work of the Trump/Vance Transition.”Gaetz was first elected to the House of Representatives in 2016 and won reelection recently, but he resigned as a congressman shortly after Trump picked him to be attorney general.
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