What you need to know about Pam Bondi An old acquaintance is to become Donald Trump's Attorney General
Preferred candidate Matt Gaetz had to resign, but Donald Trump quickly pulled an ace out of his sleeve: Pam Bondi is to become US Attorney General. The two have a long history together.
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- Pam Bondi has proven her loyalty, a key qualification for a ministerial post with Donald Trump, on several occasions since 2016.
- The lawyer from Florida is to head the US Department of Justice in future.
- Trump's preferred candidate Matt Gaetz had declared his withdrawal from the nomination shortly beforehand.
It did not take long for Donald Trump to present a successor: Just a few hours after Matt Gaetz had resigned, the US President-elect nominated Pam Bondi for the position of Attorney General. Even if Gaetz's preferred candidate did not work out, Pam Bondi is anything but a stopgap.
Gaetz had not really given up his nomination voluntarily: There are allegations of sexual misconduct against the Republican. These made it appear questionable whether the Senate would have confirmed him as Attorney General and thus the top head of the law enforcement agencies, despite the narrow Republican majority.
Trump described Bondi's job at the head of the Department of Justice as follows: "For too long, the partisan Department of Justice has been used as a weapon against me and other Republicans - not anymore." Bondi will refocus the department on its actual purpose: fighting crime and "making America safe again".
The 78-year-old right-wing populist has always described all criminal proceedings brought against him as politically motivated use of "justice as a weapon". After his successful comeback, he wants to turn the tables and use this weapon against those who have stood in his way in recent years. Bondi seems well qualified for this.
The new candidate is nevertheless "a sober choice", says Anthony Michael Kreis, a professor at Georgia State College of Law, in the New York Times. Especially "when you look at all the possible alternatives". Unlike Gaetz, "she doesn't seem bent on turning the Justice Department into a political weapon," Kreis believes, but concedes: "We don't know yet what the outcome will be."
Firmly at Trump's side since 2016
In Pam Bondi, Donald Trump has nominated a loyal ally: Loyalty is one of the most important criteria for being accepted into the Trump administration. The 59-year-old has supported Trump since the Republican primary in March 2016, when the political newcomer Trump was still far from being confirmed as his party's presidential candidate.
When that was the case a few months later, Pam Bondi sang the campaign slogan "Lock her up" with the frenzied crowd at the nominating convention. The "Lock her up" was directed at Trump's Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton. "I love it," Bondi said at the time.
Bondi remained loyal to Trump even after he left office. She continued to spread Trump's lies about alleged voter fraud and held a senior position at the America First Policy Institute, which set the course for Trump's second term.
Bondi is now to head the Department of Justice, an agency traditionally independent of the White House. Unlike Matt Gaetz, she brings the professional expertise with her. Bondi is an experienced lawyer. She worked as a state prosecutor in Hillsborough County for 18 years before becoming the first woman to be elected Attorney General in 2010, and thus the top law enforcement official in Florida, a position she held until 2019.
Not entirely clean, but legal
Politically, Pam Bondi was a blank slate when she took office. However, she quickly made a name for herself in the right-wing conservative camp with her (ultimately unsuccessful) fight against same-sex marriage in Florida and the torpedoing of the health insurance scheme launched by Barack Obama.
A Trump foundation donated 25,000 dollars to her campaign to remain in office. A piquant fact: shortly afterwards, the Attorney General of Florida decided not to investigate allegations of fraud against the then Trump University - a kind of training company for entrepreneurs.
Both sides always emphasized that the donation had nothing to do with their decision to investigate. Ultimately, the public prosecutor's office did not see sufficient evidence for a charge of bribery. To settle claims that the university had defrauded its students, Trump later paid 25 million dollars.
In 2013, Bondi came under fire for requesting that the execution of a convicted murderer be postponed by three weeks. The reason: on the day of the execution, she should have been available for possible last-minute appeals and motions, but had planned a fundraiser for her election campaign.
With agency material.
