President-elect Trump once more turned to a loyalist in tapping former Florida Legal professional Common Pam Bondi to steer the Division of Justice.
Trump named his alternative simply hours after former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) on Thursday withdrew from consideration, his nomination tormented by allegations that he had sexual relations with a minor, which he denies.
The announcement about Bondi garnered speedy enthusiasm from quite a few key Senate Republicans, an indication she may face a better path to affirmation.
“For too long, the partisan Department of Justice has been weaponized against me and other Republicans – Not anymore,” Trump wrote in asserting his choose on his social media website.
Right here’s what to learn about Trump’s new choose to steer the DOJ:
Lengthy-time Trump ties
Bondi was a senior adviser on Trump’s first impeachment protection group, a job for which she took a go away from the lobbying agency Ballard Companions. She then rejoined the agency, which was based by Florida lobbyist Brian Ballard, the previous 2016 chair of Trump Victory fundraising committee.
She continues to be a companion at Ballard Companions, the lobbying agency at which Trump’s incoming chief of workers Susie Wiles labored. Throughout her time there Bondi additionally lobbied on behalf of the Qatari authorities.
Throughout her work on Trump’s first impeachment, Bondi raised unsubstantiated claims that will later develop into central to the Republican case for impeaching President Biden, floating with out proof that he had engaged in corrupt enterprise practices together with his son Hunter Biden.
Trump and Bondi’s ties return to even earlier than he entered politics, when in 2013 he gave a $25,000 donation from the Donald J. Trump Basis to a political committee supporting Bondi. Bondi was weighing becoming a member of a swimsuit towards Trump College on the time.
Bondi has endorsed Trump since 2016, doing so whilst Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), her home-state senator, was working for president. Through the first Trump administration, Bondi served on a presidential fee centered on drug habit and the opioid disaster.
Shortly earlier than leaving workplace, Trump named Bondi as a member of the Board of Trustees for the Kennedy Heart for Performing Arts.
Bondi additionally presently works for the America First Coverage Institute, a nonprofit group made up of many former Trump officers advocating for insurance policies aligned with the now-incoming president.
Has backed Trump’s false election claims
Bondi was certainly one of quite a few attorneys who stepped into the fray as Trump was difficult the end result of the 2020 election.
Although they filed 62 lawsuits, all had been unsuccessful, and in some circumstances spurred condemnation by judges for together with false claims.
Bondi was amongst those that backed Trump’s claims there was widespread voter fraud within the 2020 election, falsely claiming Trump had received Pennsylvania and insisting that they had “evidence of cheating.”
At one level she raised the opportunity of “fake ballots” being counted within the state however then declined to get into specifics.
She has since been a critic of particular counsel Jack Smith, who introduced expenses towards Trump referring to his efforts to thwart the switch of energy after he misplaced, and mishandling categorized paperwork after leaving the White Home.
In a single latest radio look, she known as Smith and different prosecutors who’ve charged Trump “horrible” individuals she mentioned had been attempting to make names for themselves by “going after Donald Trump and weaponizing our legal system.”
And in a 2023 look on Fox Information, she echoed Trump’s claims a couple of “deep state” whereas likewise calling for an investigation of prosecutors.
“The Department of Justice – the prosecutors will be prosecuted, the bad ones. The investigators will be investigated because the ‘deep state’ last term for President Trump, they were hiding in the shadows, but now they have a spotlight on them, and they can all be investigated,” she mentioned.
Lengthy prosecutorial expertise
Bondi spent roughly 30 years as a prosecutor, first working in Florida’s Hillsborough County, which incorporates Tampa, the place she was born.
Maybe most prominently, Bondi in that function prosecuted Mets star Dwight Gooden, who in 2006 was sentenced to a yr and a day in jail for violating his probation for utilizing cocaine.
Bondi finally left the workplace to run for Florida legal professional basic in 2010. After she received a aggressive Republican major bolstered by her tv appearances, Bondi emerged victorious within the basic election and have become Florida’s first feminine state legal professional basic.
Because the state’s high authorized officer from 2011 to 2019, she embraced fights looking for to overturn the Reasonably priced Care Act, together with on the Supreme Courtroom, and helped lead efforts looking for to fight the opioid disaster.
Bondi additionally defended Florida’s constitutional ban on same-sex marriage, along with her workplace in court docket arguing that recognizing such marriages from different states would trigger “significant public harm.” She shifted her tone after the 2016 mass taking pictures at Pulse, a homosexual nightclub in Orlando, resulting in a famously heated interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper.
“That was voted into our state constitution by the voters of Florida. That’s what I was defending. It had nothing to do — I’ve never said I don’t like gay people,” Bondi mentioned within the 2016 interview.
Previous controversies
Whereas Bondi is predicted to garner a extra optimistic reception within the Senate, she could also be trailed by some previous controversies throughout her affirmation course of.
Bondi was accused of improperly accepting a $25,000 donation from Trump in 2013 when she was weighing a number of fraud accusations towards Trump College. She finally determined to not be a part of a swimsuit towards the college introduced by the New York legal professional basic.
Each of them denied any connection between the donation and the workplace’s determination, however the donation itself was unlawful as a result of it got here from a tax-exempt charity group and Trump paid a $2,500 fantastic.
The fantastic was certainly one of quite a few improper actions cited within the determination from a New York state court docket shutting down the inspiration in 2018.
In 2013, she publicly apologized for asking that the execution of a person convicted of homicide be delayed as a result of it conflicted with a marketing campaign fundraiser. She mentioned she was incorrect and sorry for requesting that then-Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) push again the execution by three weeks.
Bondi additionally adopted a canine within the wake of Hurricane Katrina, sparking a battle with the household who initially owned the St. Bernard. Bondi initially resisted giving the canine again to the household, prompting a lawsuit from the household. Bondi later settled the swimsuit and returned the pet.
