Trump chooses Pam Bondi, a loyal supporter, as his new attorney general to replace Matt Gaetz

Not even 12 hours have passed since Matt Gaetz renounced his nomination as attorney general, and Donald Trump has already named his new replacement: former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi. The 59-year-old lawyer was part of Trump’s defense team during his first impeachmentin which he was accused of pressuring Ukraine to conduct a corruption investigation into Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden. Trump once again chooses a loyal figure to occupy one of the most important positions within the Department of Justice.

“For too long, the partisan Justice Department has been used against me and other Republicans. That’s over. Pam will redirect the DOJ back to its original purpose of fighting crime and making America safe again. “I have known Pam for many years — she is smart and strong, and she is an AMERICA FIRST fighter who will do a magnificent job as Attorney General,” Trump wrote early this Friday. on your Truth Social profile.

Bondi, unlike Gaetz, also presents a much more favorable profile in the eyes of Republican senators, which has also been a point in her favor when choosing her as attorney general. Gaetz, affected by the investigation by the Congressional Ethics Committee for having had sexual relations with a minor, resigned this Thursday due to the prospect that he would not obtain enough support for the Senate to certify his nomination. Even Trump had acknowledged in private conversations that he did not believe he would achieve the minimum votes.

Unlike Gaetz, the former Florida attorney general is at least not under investigation for child abuse and has not earned the enmity of some Republican congressmen. Compared to his predecessor, despite Bondi’s Trumpist profile, Republican senators will have no problem voting in his favor.

When the Senate certifies her appointment, Bondi will be rewarded for a long career of loyalty to Trump that began with the first electoral campaign in 2016. At that time she became an open and fierce defender of the magnate. During the 2020 elections, Bondi also joined the denialist rhetoric, ensuring that Joe Biden’s victory had been a fraud and this year she was one of the many Republicans who attended the doors of the Manhattan court in a show of support for Trump for the trial of the Stormy Daniels case. A process that ended with a guilty verdict for the 34 serious crimes of which he was accused, but which could now be frozen until the term ends.

Bondi is not the only former Trump lawyer who has ended up on board his new cabinet. Last week, the president-elect chose former U.S. Attorney Todd Blanche as his deputy attorney general and Emil Bove as senior associate attorney general. Both defended Trump in his trials, including the Stormy Daniels case.

Now it will be in Bondi’s hands to dismiss the two federal cases against Trump, that of the classified Mar-a-Lago papers and that of the assault on the Capitol, and to dismiss special prosecutor Jack Smith, who is leading both accusations. The prospects for Smith remain just as negative with Bondi as attorney general as they were when Gaetz was the nominee. The lawyer was part of the group of lawyers who drafted a document amicus curiae in the case of the classified Mar-a-Lago documents supporting Trump and saying that Smith had been unconstitutionally appointed special counsel.

Thanks to this document, the Mar-a-Lago trial was even more delayed, which contributed to the magnate’s defense strategy of managing to delay the trials until after the elections.

During her time as Florida attorney general she had a reputation for being tough on crime and is expected to help Trump carry out his political agenda. The Justice Department and federal prosecutors are expected to play a major role in Trump’s deportation plan and will be asked to prioritize illegal immigrant cases.

In the first Trump administration, Bondi also served on the Commission on Opioids and Drug Abuse. Recently, he had been collaborating with the legal apparatus of the America First Policy Institute, a conservative-leaning think tank whose staff has worked closely with the Trump campaign to help shape the policies of his next administration.