CNN
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President-elect Donald Trump has nominated former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi to lead the Justice Department, hours after a top candidate for the nation’s top law enforcement agency withdrew.
President Trump made the announcement in a social media post Thursday night. This was the same day that former Rep. Matt Gaetz, the president-elect’s choice for the role last week, withdrew from consideration.
“For too long, a partisan Department of Justice has been used as a weapon against me and other Republicans, and that will no longer be the case,” Trump said in a post on his platform TruthSocial. said. “Pam will refocus the Department of Justice on its original purpose of fighting crime and making America safe again. I have known Pam for many years. She is smart, tough, and America’s first.” He is a warrior and will do a great job as Attorney General!”
People familiar with the deliberations told CNN that Bondi had been considered before Trump nominated the former congressman, and some consider him one of the president-elect’s favorite lawyers. There were also people.
Gaetz’s choice soon faced difficulties as his prospects for Senate confirmation narrowed amid mounting pressure from members of Congress, including members of his own party, to release the House Ethics Committee’s investigation report into Gaetz. was.
The report, which has not yet been released by the committee, details the committee’s investigation into alleged sexual misconduct and other crimes by Gaetz. The Florida Republican has vehemently denied the allegations investigated by the committee and the Justice Department, including allegations that he had a sexual relationship with a woman in 2017 when he was a minor. He has not been charged with a crime.
CNN reported that President Trump ultimately called Gaetz on Thursday and said he did not have the votes to get him confirmed in the Senate, after which the former congressman said on social media that he would decline the nomination. He praised Trump’s latest selection, calling it “an excellent selection.”
Bondi’s name started circulating almost immediately after Gaetz removed him from the list, and people familiar with the conversations said Trump was leaning toward announcing Bondi’s selection early Thursday afternoon. He said he started hearing about it.
Trump has always liked Bondi, but she also has close relationships with those around him, including his incoming chief of staff, Susie Wiles, and his general counsel, Boris Epshteyn.
Sources told CNN that Trump met with Bondi in person at Mar-a-Lago before formally offering him the job. The president-elect informed her of the selection Thursday night at a resort, two people familiar with the discussions told CNN.
Supporters of the president-elect were quick to express relief at Bondi’s selection, which must be confirmed by the Senate once formally nominated.
As of Thursday night, those working on the president-elect’s transition believed that Mr. Bondi was far more likely to face the confirmation process than Mr. Gaetz, given his background as Florida’s attorney general and his relationship with those on Capitol Hill. There was a widespread belief that it would be easy.
A source close to President Trump called Bondi a “solid choice” and said he was “much more comfortable about her chances.”
CNN reported that President Trump first considered Bondi for an administration position in 2018 after firing then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions. “I would love to have her in office,” Trump said at the time.
However, there were concerns about Bondi’s ability to secure Senate confirmation after a controversial $25,000 donation from the Trump Foundation to Bondi’s political action committee during his 2014 reelection campaign.
Democratic lawmakers accused Bondi of refusing to investigate fraud allegations at Trump University after accepting donations. The Florida Ethics Commission cleared Bondi of wrongdoing in the case.
Mr. Bondi remained in Mr. Trump’s orbit, working as a legal adviser in the White House and defending the president-elect during his first impeachment trial in the Senate. She also chairs the pro-Trump think tank America First Policy Institute’s Litigation Center, which leads some of the Justice Department’s efforts to oppose so-called “weaponization.” contributed to that.
Bondi practiced law in Florida for more than a decade, first as a prosecutor in Tampa and then as the state’s attorney general for eight years. In Florida, he had a reputation as a media-savvy and competent litigator.
Elected as Florida’s top prosecutor amid a conservative Tea Party wave, she became increasingly partisan during her two terms, appearing regularly on Fox News and during the 2016 campaign. He became Trump’s top deputy prosecutor in Florida.
Bondi’s court career has touched on high-profile issues and has repeatedly made headlines. She led an unsuccessful effort to overturn Obamacare in 2012, and in 2016, shortly after the Pulse nightclub shooting, Bondi spoke out against Florida’s same-sex marriage ban in an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper. He defended what he fought to keep.
“I’ve talked to a lot of gay and lesbian people here who aren’t your fans and think you’re a hypocrite,” Cooper said in an interview about Bondi’s claims after the shooting. , said he is an advocate for the LGBTQ community. . “You told the court that gay people are trying to harm the people of Florida just by fighting for marriage equality.”
Bondi said he was just following the Florida Constitution and that the ban “is not a law.”
“This was passed by the voters of Florida as our state constitution,” Bondi said. “That’s what I was defending. … I never said I hate gays.”
After leaving the Florida attorney general’s office, Bondi joined Ballard Partners, a lobbying firm with deep ties to Trump and Wiles. She served as a representative of the State of Qatar from 2019 to 2020, according to documents filed by the firm with the federal government under the Foreign Agents Registration Law.
Mr. Bondi recently joined a group of pro-Trump lawyers who filed amicus briefs with the federal appeals court in the special counsel’s classified documents case against Mr. Trump. The brief supports President Trump’s claim that special counsel Jack Smith was illegally appointed, a claim that Judge Eileen Cannon earlier this year decided to dismiss all charges against the president-elect. Connected.
Bondi is also reportedly at issue in a custody battle with a Louisiana family over their St. Bernard, a master tank that went missing after Hurricane Katrina. Family members told the Tampa Bay Times that while Bondi stole the dog, Bondi accused the family of negligence.
The case was resolved before trial and Master Tank was returned to his family.
This story has been updated with additional details.
