Sarah Ann Lynch and Daniel Trotta.
(Reuters) – U.S. President-elect Donald Trump said on Thursday he would nominate former Florida attorney general and loyalist Pam Bondi to be U.S. attorney general, moving quickly to replace her former nominee, Matt Gaetz. have been while the ex-congressman has dropped out of consideration.
Getz was the subject of a House Ethics Committee investigation into allegations that he had sex with a 17-year-old girl and abused drugs. He has denied wrongdoing.
Bondi, 59, was the nation’s third-most populous state’s top law enforcement officer from 2011 to 2019, and served on Trump’s Commission on Opioids and Drug Abuse during his first administration.
She was also part of Trump’s defense team during his first impeachment trial, in which he was accused of pressuring Ukraine to investigate corruption by withholding military aid against his rival, now President Joe Biden. Trump was later acquitted by the Senate.
Most recently, Bondi helped lead the legal arm of the America First Policy Institute, a right-leaning think tank whose officials have worked closely with the Trump campaign to prepare for his incoming administration. can help in formulating policy for
Bondi’s resume contrasts with Gatz, who has little traditional attorney general experience and will face opposition from Senate Democrats and some Republicans.
“He’s certainly qualified for the position on paper,” said David Weinstein, a former federal prosecutor in Florida who now works with Jones-Walker as a defense attorney.
“He’s spent his life trying cases. He has a resume comparable to the last nominee.”
Trump announced Bondi’s selection on social media, praising her prosecutorial experience and saying she would be tough on crime as Florida’s first female attorney general.
Trump, who was elected on Nov. 5 despite being the subject of multiple criminal investigations by U.S. and state prosecutors, said Bondi would end the politics of federal prosecution.
“For too long, the partisan Justice Department has been weaponized against me and other Republicans — not anymore,” Trump said.
Past conflict
Bondi’s ties to Trump date back to before his first election in 2016.
In 2013, the Trump Foundation donated $25,000 to a political action committee supporting Bondi, a possible violation of a federal ban on charities supporting political candidates. At the time, Bondi was considering whether Trump University, a not-for-profit venture education business.
When the donation hit the headlines in 2016, Bondi denied Trump’s $25,000 payment was tied to his decision not to prosecute Trump University, saying his office made all relevant documents public. Trump’s campaign attributed the failure to properly disclose the donation to a “series of unfortunate coincidences and errors.”
Both Trump University and the Trump Foundation were shut down following a New York State fraud investigation. Trump agreed to pay a $25 million settlement for defrauding Trump University students and was ordered to pay $2 million in damages for misappropriating charitable funds.
Trump has railed against the current leadership of the Justice Department and vowed retaliation, after special counsel Jack Smith accused him of trying to disrupt the 2020 election and keeping classified documents after he left the White House. Two charges were laid.
In her role at the America First Policy Institute, Bondi has been a staunch defender of Trump.
She was among a group of attorneys who drafted an amicus brief in the classified documents lawsuit in support of Trump that claimed Smith was illegally appointed.
That view was shared by U.S. District Judge Ellen Cannon, a Trump appointee who dismissed the case, prompting the Justice Department to appeal.
Smith and senior Justice Department officials are now reviewing how to drop both criminal cases against Trump to comply with a longstanding Justice Department policy that bars prosecution of sitting presidents. .
During his first term, Trump was angered by what he saw as obstruction in the Justice Department, including Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who authorized an investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, and Bill Barr, who publicly Trump’s false claims that his defeat in the 2020 election was the result of fraud.
The broad contours of Trump’s plans for the Justice Department have been outlined in Trump’s own public statements, as well as in statements by Mark Pauletta, a conservative lawyer who plans policy for the Justice Department, and in interviews and public forums with former department attorneys. are
Federal prosecutors will likely be directed to prioritize illegal immigration cases. Cities hoping to get a piece of the department’s $291 million justice assistance grant program will likely have to agree to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement.
The Civil Rights Division is expected to shift its focus away from police accountability to defending religious liberty and filing legal challenges against government and private sector diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
