In a little over a week, President-elect Donald Trump has announced two different people as his pick for attorney general, first former congressman Matt Gaetz and then former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi after Gaetz withdrew his name from the running. Here’s what you need to know.
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Trump announced Gaetz, a 42-year-old Republican Florida lawmaker and attorney associated with the Trump-loyal MAGA wing of the party, as his pick for attorney general last Wednesday. Gaetz promptly resigned from his seat as a U.S. representative, even though he would not have started his tenure as attorney general until 2025.
With his resignation, Gaetz also fell out of the jurisdiction of a House Ethics Committee investigation related to allegations of sexual misconduct and more, according to House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.). By last Friday, news broke that an attorney who represents two women who were witnesses in a House Ethics Committee probe said that one of his clients told the panel she saw Gaetz having sex with a minor.
Gaetz announced Thursday that he would no longer be in the running to run the Department of Justice.
“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,” he wrote on X.
Before the day finished, Trump announced that Bondi, 59, would be his new attorney general pick.
“Pam was a prosecutor for nearly 20 years, where she was very tough on Violent Criminals, and made the streets safe for Florida Families,” said Trump on Truth Social. “Then, as Florida’s first female Attorney General, she worked to stop the trafficking of deadly drugs, and reduce the tragedy of Fentanyl Overdose Deaths, which have destroyed many families across our Country.”
He also noted that he called on Bondi to serve on the Opioid and Drug Abuse Commission during his previous term in the White House. With Bondi at the helm, Trump said the Justice Department will fulfill its “intended purpose of fighting Crime, and Making America Safe Again.”
Bondi is set to replace Attorney General Merrick Garland, a longtime DOJ professional who also served as a federal judge. Before serving as attorney general under President Joe Biden, Garland was appointed by former President Barack Obama to be a U.S. Supreme Court justice after the death of Justice Antonin Scalia. However, the Republican-controlled U.S. Senate did not vote to confirm Garland.
Trump claimed in his announcement regarding Bondi that the DOJ has been “weaponized against” him. Last year, the department alleged that Trump was part of a conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election results, which he often claims were somehow fraudulent, though he has never provided evidence to support those claims.
According to Ballard Partners – where she worked as a lobbyist, per the Associated Press – Bondi was elected twice to serve as Florida’ attorney general and served in the position from 2011 to 2019. It also said she chairs the firm’s Corporate Regulatory Compliance practice, focusing on serving Fortune 500 companies on best practices for “public policy challenges such as human trafficking, opioid abuse and personal data privacy.”
Bondi worked for more than 18 years as a prosecutor and lobbied for a Kuwaiti firm, according to Justice Department foreign agent filings and congressional lobbying documents cited by the AP. She also represented Trump during his first impeachment trial.
In 2013 Bondi publicly apologized for seeking to delay the execution of a convicted killer because it conflicted with a fundraiser for her reelection campaign, the AP said. That year, she also personally solicited a 2013 political contribution from Trump while her office was weighing whether to join New York in suing over fraud allegations involving Trump University, per the outlet.
“Trump cut a $25,000 check to a political committee supporting Bondi from his family’s charitable foundation, in violation of legal prohibitions against charities supporting partisan political activities,” said the AP. “After the check came in, Bondi’s office nixed suing Trump’s company for fraud, citing insufficient grounds to proceed. Both Trump and Bondi denied wrongdoing.”
To officially become attorney general, Bondi’s appointment must be approved by the U.S. Senate. During his previous term, Trump first appointed Jeff Sessions as attorney general in 2017 and then William Barr in 2019.
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