Trump announces Pam Bondi as new attorney general choice – as it happened | Trump administration

Key events

This blog is closing now, thanks for following along. Here is the full story on Trump choosing Pam Bondi to replace Matt Gaetz as his nominee for attorney general:

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Summary

Here are the key developments from the last few hours:

Donald Trump announced that he would nominate for attorney general Pam Bondi, the former Florida state attorney general, hours after the former representative Matt Gaetz withdrew in the face of opposition from Senate Republicans who had balked over a series of sexual misconduct allegations.

Gaetz, the former Florida representative, withdrew from consideration as attorney general amid allegations including sexual misconduct with a 17-year-old girl, drug use and misappropriating campaign funds. His rapid fall came after likely opposition from Republican senators who had squirmed at the notion of approving his nomination, all as the House ethics committee mulled releasing its investigation into his alleged misconduct. Meanwhile, CNN reported that the woman who said she had sex with Gaetz when she was a minor had had a second sexual encounter with him, involving an adult woman.

Rainn, the US’s largest anti-sexual violence organization, wrote that Gaetz’s decision “was in response to survivors and advocates using their voices to demand accountability”. Other women’s rights and empowerment groups, including UltraViolet, acknowledged that it was right for Gaetz to withdraw, while also pointing out that Donald Trump’s cabinet nominees include several others accused of sexual abuse and misconduct.

A handful of Republican senators reacted to Gaetz’s withdrawal, issuing a variety of responses. The Senate minority leader, Mitch McConnell, called the decision “appropriate”, according to the Washington Post. Meanwhile, the senator Cynthia Lummis told CNN that it was good that Gaetz recognized he was a distraction, and that this will allow Trump to appoint someone “equally tenacious” to lead the justice department.

The scrutiny around Pete Hegseth, Trump’s nominee for defense secretary, grew as police unveiled an investigative report into the former Fox News host that further detailed the sexual assault allegations surrounding him. According to the report, Hegseth assaulted a woman after he took her phone, blocked the door to a hotel room and prevented her from leaving.

Meanwhile, the woman who publicly accused Robert F Kennedy Jr of sexual assault when she worked for him as a babysitter said she was motivated to do so when he released a campaign ad based on a famous advertisement for his uncle, President John F Kennedy. “I literally was just watching the Super Bowl and saw the ad and thought: ‘You’ve gotta be kidding me,’” Eliza Cooney told USA Today.

US President Joe Biden has responded to the ICC issuing arrest warrants for Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the country’s former defence minister, Yoav Gallant, calling it an “outrageous” decision. In a short statement, he said: “The ICC issuance of arrest warrants against Israeli leaders is outrageous. Let me be clear once again: whatever the ICC might imply, there is no equivalence – none – between Israel and Hamas. We will always stand with Israel against threats to its security.”

Democratic Senator Bob Casey of Pennsylvania called Dave McCormick to concede a closely fought race in Pennsylvania. The race was decided by less than a quarter of a point. In a post on X, he said: “During my time in office, I have been guided by an inscription on the Finance Building in Harrisburg: ‘All public service is a trust, given in faith and accepted in honor’.”

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Updated at 21.26 EST

‘Outrageous’: Biden responds to ICC arrest warrants for Israeli leaders

US President Joe Biden has responded to the ICC issuing arrest warrants for Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the country’s former defence minister Yoav Gallant, calling it an “outrageous” decision.

In a short statement, he said:

The ICC issuance of arrest warrants against Israeli leaders is outrageous. Let me be clear once again: whatever the ICC might imply, there is no equivalence – none – between Israel and Hamas. We will always stand with Israel against threats to its security.

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Updated at 20.44 EST

Hugo Lowell

Pam Bondi’s elevation to lead the justice department would also come as a result of extraordinary serendipity, after Trump picked Gaetz almost on a whim after he decided against more conventional lawyers.

The selection process for major positions has involved Trump pulling up each candidate on a bank of screens at his Mar-a-Lago club and looking for various qualities, including their perceived loyalty and how they might play on television.

Trump did not like the initial list of names that included Mark Paoletta, the former counsel at the White House office of management and budget; Missouri’s attorney general, Andrew Bailey; and Robert Giuffra, co-chair of the New York law firm Sullivan and Cromwell, and decided he preferred a pugilist like Gaetz.

But the Gaetz nomination sank after a series of meetings on Wednesday with Republican senators. Later that evening, they broadly expressed to the Trump team their continued opposition to the Gaetz nomination, the people said.

On Thursday morning, Trump called Gaetz and told him that it was clear he did not have the votes in a rare moment of realpolitik for Trump. Gaetz agreed and took himself out of the running, one of the people said.

Gaetz told associates after he announced he was withdrawing his nomination that he faced the reality that at least three senators – Mitch McConnell, Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski – and senator-elect John Curtis would vote against him and block his confirmation, the people said.

From his Mar-a-Lago club, Trump said in a statement: “I greatly appreciate the recent efforts of Matt Gaetz in seeking approval to be attorney general. He was doing very well but, at the same time, did not want to be a distraction for the administration, for which he has much respect.”

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Updated at 20.50 EST

The Federal Aviation Administration plans to convene a corrective action review board in the coming weeks to consider safety concerns about engines on Boeing 737 Max airplanes after two bird-strike incidents on Southwest Airlines planes in 2023.

The FAA said it is addressing an issue with the CFM Leap-1B engine and is collaborating with Boeing, CFM and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency.

The Seattle Times, which reported the plan earlier, said the FAA could issue instructions to pilots for changes during procedures during takeoff until Boeing develops a permanent fix that could extend delays to certification of the Max 7 and Max 10 models.

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Updated at 20.47 EST

After meeting with US senators on Capitol Hill, Matt Gaetz determined that his nomination was “becoming a distraction to the critical work of the new Trump administration”, he explained on X.

“There’s a sense of relief about it, of course. I think he did a pretty noble thing, frankly, an honorable thing by getting out himself,” said Kevin Cramer, the Republican senator from North Dakota.

A lawyer who represents two women who say they were paid by Gaetz for sex also said his clients are “relieved to have this chapter behind them”.

Here is our video report:

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Updated at 20.25 EST

Reuters: McKinsey is in the final stages of negotiating a deferred prosecution agreement to resolve a US criminal investigation into the consulting firm’s work helping opioid manufacturers boost sales that allegedly contributed to a deadly addiction epidemic, people familiar with the matter said.

McKinsey is in talks to pay more than $600m to resolve the longstanding US Department of Justice investigation, which also encompasses findings of civil violations, the people said.

The settlement, expected to be unveiled before the end of the year, would result in prosecutors seeking to dismiss criminal charges against McKinsey after a period of time as long as the company abides by the agreement’s terms.

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Analysis: Tesla’s path in China clears as Musk courts both Trump and Xi

Amy Hawkins

If it pays to have friends in high places, few among us can claim to be better placed than Elon Musk, the world’s richest man and one of the only people to have cosy relationships with both Donald Trump and Xi Jinping. His commercial and political connections to both may prove pivotal as the feud between the US and China plays out over the next four years, particularly as Trump promises steep tariffs.

Musk, the billionaire CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, once supported Joe Biden. But his relationship with the current US president soured over the past four years as, among other perceived insults, Musk felt that the White House gave Tesla, his car and green energy company, “the cold shoulder”. Trump, meanwhile, has described Tesla as “incredible” even while pledging to do away with subsidies for electric vehicles. This year, Musk formally endorsed Trump as the presidential candidate, campaigned for him online and off and donated more than $100m to his re-election effort.

Musk’s loyalty has been rewarded with his appointment as the leader of a newly created Department of Government Efficiency (Doge), which, despite its name, will be an advisory body, not a government agency. Perhaps more important for the global economy than his official role will be the influence he has on the dynamic between the leaders of the world’s two superpowers. With a trade war that was started by Trump and expanded by Biden, and mounting geopolitical tensions, the US-China relationship has been tumbling downhill for years, with negative global consequences, not least for consumers in the US and China, who have seen prices rise as a result.

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Updated at 19.42 EST

Hugo Lowell

Donald Trump announced that he would nominate for attorney general Pam Bondi, the former Florida state attorney general, hours after the former representative Matt Gaetz withdrew in the face of opposition from Senate Republicans who had balked over a series of sexual-misconduct allegations.

The move to name Bondi reflected Trump’s determination to install a loyalist as the nation’s top law enforcement official and marked another instance of Trump putting his personal lawyers in the justice department.

Trump settled on Bondi soon after Gaetz, his first pick, withdrew from the running earlier on Thursday. Trump was told by advisers that she was a good alternative because she has allies across the Republican party as well as inside Trump’s world, according to people familiar with the matter.

“I am proud to announce former attorney general of the Great State of Florida, Pam Bondi, as our next attorney general of the United States. Pam was a prosecutor for nearly 20 years, where she was very tough on Violent Criminals,” Trump said in a Truth Social post.

“Pam will refocus the DOJ to its intended purpose of fighting Crime, and Making America Safe Again. I have known Pam for many years – She is smart and tough, and is an AMERICA FIRST Fighter, who will do a terrific job as attorney general!”

Bondi has been inside Trump’s orbit for some time, and is widely seen to have demonstrated her loyalty to Trump during his first term, when she helped with his impeachment defense, and more recently when she repeatedly attended Trump’s criminal trial in New York.

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Updated at 19.40 EST

Longtime Trump ally Roger Stone has congratulated Bondi, saying he is “confident she will clean out the nest of corruption at our currently politicised DOJ”.

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Updated at 19.39 EST

Bondi would be third female US attorney general if confirmed

If confirmed, Pam Bondi would be the third woman to serve as attorney general, after Janet Reno, who served in the role from 1993-2001, and Loretta Lynch, who served in the role from 2015-2017.

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Updated at 19.39 EST