Friday 22 / November / 2024
Pam Bondi was nominated by US President-elect Donald Trump to be the next attorney general late on Thursday.
"Pam will refocus the [Department of Justice] to its intended purpose of fight crime, and making America safe again," Trump said on social media.
The announcement came hours after Trump's previous nominee, former Florida congressman Matt Gaetz withdrew from the selection process on Thursday, after widespread opposition including from within his Republican Party over sex trafficking allegations.
"While the momentum was strong, it is clear that my confirmation was unfairly becoming a distraction to the critical work of the Trump/Vance Transition," Gaetz said.
Bondi served as Florida's first female attorney general between 2011 and 2019, making her a more conventional pick compared to Gaetz, who does not have experience as a prosecutor.
She is also a staunch Trump ally who has supported him in many ways over the years.
Bondi served as a member of Trump's legal team during his first Senate impeachment trial, pushed to delegitimize voting in the swing state of Pennsylvania at the 2020 election, showed up to support Trump during his hush money trial in New York, and helped lead the legal arm of the America First Policy Institute, a think-tank formed by former Trump staffers.
"For too long, the partisan Department of Justice (DOJ) has been weaponized against me and other Republicans — not anymore," Trump said.
