President-elect Donald Trump tapped former Florida Legal professional Common Pam Bondi on Thursday to move up the U.S. Division of Justice in his second time period—a swift choice however one met with little shock amongst many in Trump’s orbit.
That is as a result of Bondi, 59, has emerged as a detailed ally of the president-elect lately—together with defending him in his impeachment proceedings, and extra lately, within the run-up to Election Day, the place she serves because the co-chair of the Middle for Legislation and Justice on the America First Coverage Institute (AFPI) a suppose tank arrange by former Trump staffers.
Like former Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, who withdrew his title from consideration for lawyer normal Thursday afternoon, Bondi is from Florida and is taken into account by many to be a staunch loyalist of the president-elect, devoted to rooting out what the president-elect has described because the “weaponization” of the Justice Division.
Past that, nevertheless, the 2 seem to have little in widespread.
FLURRY OF PRE-ELECTION LEGAL CASES IS NOW ‘STANDARDIZED’ STRATEGY, EXPERTS SAY
Pam Bondi speaks throughout a press convention whereas on a break from former President Donald Trump’s hush cash trial exterior Manhattan Felony Court docket in New York Metropolis. (Photograph by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Photographs) (Getty)
A Florida native, Bondi has spent years as a prosecutor within the Sunshine State—spending 18 as a prosecutor within the Hillsborough County State Legal professional’s Workplace earlier than being elected in 2010 to function Florida’s first feminine lawyer normal.
Extra lately, Bondi has used her perch at AFPI to voice issues about election safety—a significant concern that Republicans sought to emphasise as they filed a flurry of re-election lawsuits, primarily in main swing states.
If confirmed, it’s seemingly that Bondi will use her put up to implement lots of Trump’s tough-on-crime coverage proposals, together with cracking down on cartels, fentanyl, trafficking and extra.
An internet site for Trump’s Agenda47 referred to as for insurance policies resembling extending the death penalty for human traffickers, ending welfare for migrants dwelling within the U.S. illegally, and cracking down on violent crime in main cities, which Trump has described as having declined into “cesspools of bloodshed and crime.”
Within the hours after her nomination, nevertheless, it remained unclear how—or whether or not—she deliberate to implement a few of these proposals.
One member of the Trump transition group pointed Fox Information Digital to a broadly circulated clip of CNN authorized analyst Elie Honig highlighting Bondi’s qualifications for the role.
“Pam Bondi is, with out a query, certified to be lawyer normal,” Honig mentioned within the clip, calling her expertise “on par with, or higher than, most United States attorneys normal that we have seen over the previous 50 years or so.”
“Even CNN is fawning over her {qualifications},” a supply acquainted, who declined to be recognized, informed Fox Information Digital.
MATT GAETZ SAYS HE WILL NOT SERVE IN THE UPCOMING SESSION OF CONGRESS
Former Florida Legal professional Common Pam Bondi shows a courtroom order granting Trump’s marketing campaign extra entry to vote counting operations on the Pennsylvania Conference Middle, Nov. 5, 2020, in Philadelphia. (AP Photograph/Matt Slocum)
These near Bondi have praised her lengthy document as a prosecutor, and her staunch loyalty to the president-elect, alongside whom she has labored since 2020—first, serving to to signify him in his first impeachment trial, and at present in her put up at AFPI.
Bondi is “all about integrity and the correct software of justice and equity,” mentioned Gianno Caldwell, the pinnacle of the Caldwell Institute of Public Security, a corporation designed to battle violent crime. Bondi serves on the advisory board of that group.
“I feel she’s going to have the ability to root out plenty of the unhealthy apples,” Caldwell added. “And return the Justice Division to its conventional focus, which is legislation and order, and preventing crime.”
MIKE ROGERS REPLACING WRAY AS FBI DIRECTOR IS NOT HAPPENING, TRUMP ADVISER SAYS
Pam Bondi, former lawyer normal of Florida, arrives on the Fiserv Discussion board on the second day of Republican Nationwide Conference in Milwaukee, Wis., on Tuesday, July 16, 2024. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Name, Inc by way of Getty Photographs)
Like different high contenders for the position. Bondi has not been shy in going after Trump critics, together with particular counsel Jack Smith, who was tapped by Legal professional Common Merrick Garland in 2022 to research each an alleged effort by Trump and his allies to overturn the outcomes of the 2020 election, and Trump’s protecting of allegedly labeled paperwork at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida.
Smith seems to be winding down his investigation—a welcome aid for the president-elect, who had vowed as a candidate to fireplace him “inside two seconds” after taking workplace.
Nonetheless, Bondi has shared in Trump’s criticisms, utilizing a latest radio interview to explain Smith and his group of prosecutors as “horrible” individuals attempting to make a reputation for themselves by “going after Donald Trump and weaponizing our authorized system.”
“Legal professional Common nominee Bondi is trying ahead to the affirmation course of and answering any questions senators might need,” mentioned Alex Pfeiffer, a spokesman for the Trump transition group.
Bondi’s life “has been devoted to protecting People protected,” he added. “She appears to be like ahead to persevering with that work on the Division of Justice.”
