NEW YORK (AP) — Pam Bondi, the former Florida attorney general, was chosen by Donald Trump to serve as U.S. attorney general on Thursday, just hours after his first nominee, Matt Gaetz, bowed out following a federal sex trafficking investigation and an ethics investigation withdrawn had ability to be doubtfully confirmed.
The 59-year-old has long been in Trump’s sphere of influence and her name was floated during his first term as a potential candidate for the nation’s highest law enforcement office.
If confirmed by the Republican-led Senate, Bondi would immediately become one of the most closely watched members of Trump’s Cabinet, as the Republican threatens retaliation against perceived opponents and Democrats fear he will try to bend the Justice Department to his will.
Here are a few things you should know about Bondi:
She has long been a fixture in Trump’s world
Bondi was a long-standing and early ally. In March 2016, on the eve of the Florida Republican primary, Bondi endorsed Trump at a rally and introduced him to her own state’s candidate, Florida Senator Marco Rubio.
She gained national attention through appearances on Fox News defending Trump and had a notable speaking slot at the 2016 Republican National Convention, when Trump became the party’s surprise nominee. During the speech, some in the crowd chanted “Lock her up” about Trump’s Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.
Bondi responded by saying, “‘Lock her up,’ I love that.”
As Trump prepared to enter the White House, she was part of his first transition team.
When Trump’s first attorney general, Jeff Sessions, was ousted in 2018, Bondi’s name was floated as a possible candidate for the post. Trump said at the time that he would “love” Bondi to join the administration. He ultimately chose William Barr instead.
She remained in Trump’s orbit even after he left office. She was chairwoman of the America First Policy Institute, a think tank founded by former Trump administration staffers to lay the groundwork if he wins a second term.
She was Florida’s first female attorney general
Bondi made history in 2010 when she was elected Florida’s first female attorney general. Although the Tampa native served as a prosecutor in the Hillsborough County District Attorney’s Office for more than 18 years, she was a political unknown when she held the state’s top law enforcement post.
Bondi was advanced in the primary after being endorsed by former Alaska governor and vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin.
She campaigned with a message of forceful operate of the state’s top legal office and challenged then-President Barack Obama’s signature health care law. She also called for her state to adopt Arizona’s “Show Me Your Papers” immigration law, which sparked a national debate.
As Florida’s top prosecutor, Bondi emphasized the issue of human trafficking and called for tightening state laws against human traffickers. She held the office from 2011 to 2019.
She worked as a lobbyist for both U.S. and foreign clients
Bondi worked as a lobbyist for Ballard Partners, the powerful Florida-based firm where Trump campaign manager and future chief of staff Susie Wiles was a partner. Her U.S. clients included General Motors, the commissioner of Major League Baseball and a Christian anti-human trafficking advocacy group.
She also hired a Kuwaiti company, according to Justice Department foreign agent files and congressional lobbying documents. She registered as a foreign agent for the government of Qatar; Her work was related to anti-human trafficking efforts leading up to the World Cup in 2022.
Bondi also represented KGL Investment Company KSCC, a Kuwaiti company also known as KGLI that lobbies the White House, the National Security Council, the State Department and Congress on immigration policy, human rights and economic sanctions.
She defended Trump during his first impeachment trial
Bondi retired from lobbying to work on Trump’s legal team during his first impeachment trial in 2020.
He was accused – but not convicted – of abuse of power for allegedly pressuring Ukraine’s president to investigate his Democratic rivals while withholding crucial U.S. security aid. He was also charged with obstruction of Congress for blocking investigative efforts.
Trump wanted the Ukrainian president to publicly commit to investigating Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden, who served on the board of a Ukrainian gas company. He pushed for the investigation while withholding nearly $400 million in military aid.
Bondi was hired to strengthen White House messaging and communications. From the beginning, Trump and his allies tried to delegitimize the impeachment, dismissing the whole thing as a farce.
She was critical of the criminal proceedings against Trump
Bondi has been a vocal critic of the criminal cases against Trump and of Jack Smith, the special counsel who indicted Trump in two federal cases. In a radio appearance, she called Smith and other prosecutors who prosecuted Trump “horrible” people who she said were trying to make a name for themselves by “going after Donald Trump and weaponizing our legal system.”
Bondi is unlikely to be confirmed in time to overlap with Smith, who has filed two federal indictments against Trump, both of which are expected to be dropped before the new president takes office. Special prosecutors are expected to prepare reports on their work, which are usually made public. However, it remains unclear when such a document might be made public.
Bondi was also among a group of Republicans who supported Trump at his hush-money criminal trial in New York, which ended in May with a conviction on 34 felony counts.
As president, Trump called for investigations of political opponents like Hillary Clinton and sought to operate the Justice Department’s law enforcement powers to advance his own interests, including by attempting to overturn the results of the 2020 election. Bondi probably seems to please him.
She would inherit a Justice Department that is expected to focus heavily on civil rights, corporate enforcement and the prosecution of hundreds of Trump supporters charged in the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riots – defendants , who Trump has promised to pardon.
She had some of her own political problems
Bondi publicly apologized in 2013, while serving as attorney general, after she tried to delay the execution of a convicted murderer because it conflicted with a fundraiser for her re-election campaign.
The attorney general, who represents the state in appeals against death row inmates, typically remains available on the day of execution cases to address last-minute legal issues.
Bondi later said she was wrong and regretted asking the then-Gov. Rick Scott postpones the execution of Marshall Lee Gore for three weeks.
Bondi personally solicited political input from Trump in 2013 as her office considered whether to join New York in suing Trump University over fraud allegations.
Trump wrote a $25,000 check from his family’s charitable foundation to a political committee supporting Bondi, violating the law’s ban on charities supporting partisan political activities. After the check was received, Bondi’s office declined to sue Trump’s company for fraud, saying there were insufficient grounds to proceed. Both Trump and Bondi denied wrongdoing.
Two days before he was sworn in as president in January 2017, Trump paid $25 million to settle three lawsuits alleging that Trump University defrauded its students.
Trump also paid a $2,500 fine to the IRS over the Donald J. Trump Foundation’s illegal political donation in support of Bondi, which he was forced to unwind following a New York state investigation.
A Florida prosecutor hired by then-Republican Gov. Rick Scott later determined there was insufficient evidence to support bribery allegations against Trump and Bondi related to the $25,000 donation.
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Reported for a long time from Washington. Associated Press writer Michael Biesecker contributed to this report.
