By Sarah N. Lynch and Daniel Trotta
(Reuters) – U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday nominated former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi as U.S. attorney general. He moved quickly to replace his former candidate Matt Gaetz after the embattled former congressman withdrew from consideration.
Gaetz, who faced opposition from Senate Republicans, was the subject of a House Ethics Committee investigation into allegations of sex with an underage 17-year-old girl and illegal drug use. He has denied wrongdoing.
Bondi served as the top law enforcement official in the nation’s third-most populous state from 2011 to 2019 and served on Trump’s Opioid and Drug Abuse Commission during his first administration.
Most recently, Bondi helped lead the legal department of the America First Policy Institute, a right-wing think tank whose staff has worked closely with Trump’s campaign to shape policy for his new administration.
Her resume contrasts with that of Gaetz, who has little of the traditional experience expected of an attorney general.
Bondi would likely face less opposition from senators involved in the confirmation process than Gaetz.
Trump announced his choice of Bondi on social media, praising her for her prosecutorial experience and saying she was tough on crime as Florida’s first female attorney general.
Trump, who was elected on November 5 despite being the subject of multiple criminal investigations by US and state prosecutors, including a felony conviction in New York state, said Bondi would end the politicization of federal prosecutions.
“For too long, the partisan Justice Department has been weaponized against me and other Republicans — not anymore,” Trump said.
“Pam will refocus the DOJ on its intended purpose: fighting crime and making America safe again.”
Bondi, a Trump loyalist, is expected to implement Trump’s policy agenda.
During the Republican US president’s first term, Trump was infuriated by what he called an obstructive Justice Department, including Attorneys General Jeff Sessions, who allowed an investigation into alleged Russia, and Bill Barr, who publicly backed his false claims about his election loss 2020 refuted. was the result of fraud.
The broad outlines of Trump’s plans for the Justice Department have been communicated through Trump’s own public statements, as well as through statements by Mark Paoletta, a conservative lawyer who leads policy planning for the Justice Department, and in interviews and public forums with former lawyers from the ministry.
Federal prosecutors will likely be ordered to prioritize illegal immigration cases. Cities hoping to receive a portion of the department’s more than $291 million legal aid grant program will likely have to agree to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement.
The Civil Rights Division is expected to shift its focus from police accountability to defending religious freedom and filing legal challenges to government and private sector diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch and Daniel Trotta; Editing by Rami Ayyub and Lincoln Feast.)
