President-elect Donald Trump wasted little time selecting another candidate for attorney general after Matt Gaetz dropped his bid amid sexual misconduct allegations.
Pam Bondi, Florida’s attorney general for eight years, was part of Trump’s defense team during his first impeachment trial and supported his false claims of fraud following the 2020 election. She’s remained in Trump’s orbit since then, continuing to advise him on legal matters.
Despite the shake-up, Bondi seems easily positioned to pick up the mantle on Trump’s goal of overhauling the Justice Department and his pledge for retribution against political opponents.
“For too long, the partisan Department of Justice has been weaponized against me and other Republicans – Not anymore,” Trump wrote in his official announcement of Bondi for attorney general. “Pam will refocus the DOJ to its intended purpose of fighting Crime, and Making America Safe Again.”
In this Feb. 22, 2018, file photo, President Donald Trump watches as Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi speaks during a meeting with state and local officials on school safety in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, D.C.
Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images, FILE
In August 2023, during an appearance on Fox News, Bondi railed against the criminal indictments against Trump and what Fox host Sean Hannity described as a “two-tiered system of justice.”
“When Republicans take back the White House, and we will be back in there in 18 months or less, you know what’s going to happen? The Department of Justice, the prosecutors will be prosecuted — the bad ones — the investigators will be investigated,” she said.
“Because the deep state last term for President Trump, they were hiding in the shadows,” Bondi continued. “But now, they have a spotlight on them and they can all be investigated … We can clean house next term and that’s what has to happen.”
She also implied action could be taken against President Joe Biden amid Republican allegations that Biden was personally involved in and benefited from his family’s overseas business dealings, which have yet to be supported by direct evidence.
“When we have a new administration, absolutely, Sean. It has to,” Bondi said at the time.
The comments echo Trump’s own vows on the campaign trail to go after his perceived political enemies, intelligence officers, prosecutors and more.
Trump in 2016 led chants of “lock her up” against Hillary Clinton, though he never went after her legally once in office. Bondi, at the 2016 convention, when the crowd shouted “Lock her up,” responded: “‘Lock her up,’ I love that.”
In this Nov. 4, 2020, file photo, former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, center, speaks during a news conference on legal challenges to vote counting in Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia. At left is Lara Trump, daughter-in-law of President Trump and at right is Rudy Giuliani, a lawyer for President Trump.
Matt Slocum/AP, FILE
Bondi was also a supporter of Trump’s false claims regarding the 2020 election, helping file several unsuccessful lawsuits alleging voter fraud.
She appeared alongside Rudy Giuliani in Philadelphia the day after the 2020 race declaring Trump “won Pennsylvania” while votes were still being counted. The state went for President Biden by roughly 80,000 votes.
Critics say the comments raise questions as to whether she could be trusted to enforce the law.
“As AG, would she drop cases against violent insurrectionists? Continue pushing the Big Lie under oath?” Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff, who next year will join the Senate, wrote on X. “She will have to answer those questions and a lot more during her confirmation hearings.”
ABC News’ Soorin Kim and Peter Charalambous contributed to this report.
