US President-elect Donald Trump has hurriedly dismissed Thursday’s negative headlines surrounding Matt Gaetz by nominating Pam Bondi, a fellow Florida Republican with an entirely different background but a similar reputation for loyalty, as his attorney.
Recall that Matt Gaetz on Thursday, withdrew as President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for Attorney General over the swirl of allegations about paying underage women for se.
Bondi who replaced him is a lobbyist and a loyal supporter of Trump who served as Florida’s attorney general from 2011 to 2019.
Trump was told by advisers that she was a good alternative to Gaetz because she has allies across the Republican party as well as inside his world.
Lets get to know more about Trump’s new pick.
Bondi’s Career
Bondi, the daughter of a mayor from a small municipality near Tampa, started her career as an assistant state attorney in Hillsborough County in the 1990s. Over her 18 years as a prosecutor, she handled cases that spanned from domestic violence to capital murder.
She oversaw several high-profile cases, including one involving former New York Mets pitcher Dwight Gooden, who was sentenced to one year in prison for violating probation in a drug case in 2006.
She was elected Florida’s first female attorney general in 2010
Bondi, who was a Democrat until 2000, emerged from a competitive Republican primary to win the attorney general’s race, gaining support from Sarah Palin, the former Alaska governor and 2008 Republican vice-presidential nominee.
Throughout her eight years in office, she attempted unsuccessfully to overturn and weaken the Affordable Care Act, opposed expanding legal protections for the LGBTQ+ community, and built a national profile by backing anti-human trafficking initiatives.
However, she faced criticism for her fundraising practices, including persuading then-Governor Rick Scott to delay an execution in 2013 due to a scheduling conflict with a fundraiser for her reelection campaign, for which she later apologized.
She was a member of Trump’s impeachment defense team
After leaving office in 2019, Bondi was hired by Ballard Partners, a lobbying firm closely associated with Trump.
A year later, she joined the defense team for Trump during his first impeachment, where she accused former Vice President Joe Biden, then a private citizen, of engaging in corrupt business dealings with his son Hunter.
During Trump’s hush-money trial, Bondi was one of the few Republicans to attend court in his support.
She has been vocal in her criticism of the criminal cases against Trump and has taken aim at Jack Smith, the special counsel responsible for charging Trump in two federal cases, labeling Smith and other prosecutors as “horrible” people who are “weaponizing our legal system.”
If confirmed, Bondi will join several other members of Trump’s legal team at the Justice Department.
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