United States President-elect Donald Trump has picked another loyalist to be the next attorney general after his first choice, firebrand former Congressman Matt Gaetz, withdrew from contention after days of controversy.
Trump announced on Thursday that he was nominating Pam Bondi, a former Florida attorney general, to be the country’s next top federal prosecutor.
“For too long, the partisan Department of Justice has been weaponized against me and other Republicans – Not anymore. Pam will refocus the DOJ to its intended purpose of fighting Crime, and Making America Safe Again,” he said in a social media post.
He made the appointment after Gaetz’s nomination drew criticism from lawmakers in both major US political parties.
The Florida Republican has been the subject of a House of Representatives Ethics Committee investigation into illegal activities, including allegations he had sex with an underage 17-year-old girl. He has denied wrongdoing.
Bondi’s nomination, which must be confirmed by the US Senate, has also caused a stir with observers pointing to past controversies, including a 2013 Trump Foundation donation to a political action committee backing her.
Here’s what you need to know about the nominee:
Who is Pam Bondi?
Bondi, 59, made history in 2010 when she was elected as Florida’s first female attorney general, a position she held from 2011 to 2019.
A Tampa native, she had spent more than 18 years as a prosecutor in the Hillsborough County State Attorney’s Office but was relatively unknown in national political circles when she was the US state’s top prosecutor.
In her time as Florida attorney general, Bondi stressed human trafficking issues and urged tightening state laws against traffickers.
Her resume contrasts with that of Gaetz, who has little of the traditional experience expected of an attorney general – a position that holds massive decision-making authority over what cases to pursue and how to direct federal law enforcement.
The FBI; Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA); Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; and US Marshals Service all answer to the attorney general. The attorney general also oversees regional federal prosecutors, known as US attorneys, across the country.
“She is certainly qualified for the position on paper,” David Weinstein, a former federal prosecutor in Florida who now works as a defence attorney, told the Reuters news agency.
“She spent her life prosecuting cases. She has a resume, as compared to the last nominee.”
What is her relationship with Trump?
Bondi has been in Trump’s orbit for years and was one of his earliest supporters, endorsing the former president during his successful 2016 campaign for the White House.
She gained national attention with appearances on Fox News as a defender of Trump and had a notable speaking spot at the 2016 Republican National Convention, where he became the party’s nominee.
During her remarks, some in the crowd began chanting “Lock her up” about Trump’s Democratic rival, Hillary Rodham Clinton. Bondi responded: “‘Lock her up,’ I love that.”
After Trump won the election, she served on his transition team before also becoming a member of his Opioid and Drug Abuse Commission during his first administration.
She was also part of Trump’s defence team during his first impeachment trial, in which he was accused of pressuring Ukraine to conduct a corruption investigation into his rival, now-President Joe Biden, by withholding military aid to the country.
Trump was acquitted by the US Senate.
What was the donation controversy about?
Bondi personally solicited a 2013 political contribution from Trump as her office was weighing whether to join New York in suing over fraud allegations involving Trump University, a for-profit teaching business.
The Trump Foundation donated $25,000 to a political action committee backing her, a potential violation of a federal ban on charities aiding political candidates.
When the donation made headlines in 2016, Bondi denied the $25,000 from Trump was connected to her decision not to pursue action against Trump University, saying her office made all the relevant documents public.
Trump’s campaign attributed the failure to properly disclose the donation to a “series of unfortunate coincidences and errors”.
Trump’s namesake charitable foundation agreed to dissolve in 2018 under court supervision after a lawsuit by New York’s attorney general accusing Trump of misusing the foundation to advance his 2016 presidential campaign and his businesses. The foundation was also ordered to pay a $2m fine.
After Bondi’s nomination was announced on Thursday, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a watchdog group, called on the Senate Judiciary Committee “to thoroughly investigate the Trump-Bondi scandal”.
What else should we know about Bondi?
More recently, Bondi has served as chairwoman of the Center for Litigation at the America First Policy Institute, a think tank set up by former Trump administration staffers to lay the groundwork if he won a second term.
She has been a vocal critic of the criminal cases against the former president and of Jack Smith, the special counsel who pursued charges against Trump for his effort to overturn the 2020 election results as well as his alleged mishandling of classified documents.
Bondi was among a group of lawyers to draft an amicus brief in defence of Trump in the classified documents case, claiming Smith had been unlawfully appointed.
In one radio appearance, she also blasted Smith and other prosecutors who have charged Trump as “horrible” people whom she accused of trying to make names for themselves by “going after Donald Trump and weaponising our legal system”.
In 2020, she also spread the “Big Lie” pushed by Trump and his allies that the election was stolen from him. “We’ve won Pennsylvania, and we want every vote to be counted in a fair way,” Bondi said at the time.
