Trump Nominates Former Florida AG Bondi as Second U.S. Attorney General Choice

WASHINGTON -- President-elect Donald Trump’s announcement last week that he has chosen former Florida attorney general Pam Bondi as his nominee for U.S. attorney general is giving Democrats jitters over what she might do to the Justice Department.

Trump announced the choice of Bondi hours after former U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz withdrew himself from consideration for the job amid allegations of sexual misconduct and drug use.

Bondi has echoed Trump’s allegations that the Justice Department was “weaponized” against him.

She also assisted as a senior adviser on Trump’s defense team the first time he was impeached by Congress.

If Trump makes good on his promise to purge the Justice Department of attorneys disloyal to him, Bondi would be the one who carries it out if she wins Senate approval.

Republicans who hold the majority in the Senate said they have no objections to Bondi’s nomination. Bondi was Florida’s attorney general from 2011 to 2019.

“For too long, the partisan Department of Justice has been weaponized against me and other Republicans – Not anymore. Pam will refocus the DOJ to its intended purpose of fighting Crime, and Making America Safe Again. I have known Pam for many years — She is smart and tough, and is an AMERICA FIRST Fighter, who will do a terrific job as Attorney General!“ Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Bondi showed up to support Trump at his criminal trial in New York that ended in May with convictions on 34 felony counts.

She said during a recent radio appearance that Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith and his assistants who are prosecuting Trump for election interference in the 2020 election are “horrible” people who are “weaponizing our legal system.”

She became Trump’s second nominee for attorney general after Gaetz met with some of the senators who would have overseen his confirmation hearing. At least four Republican senators said they would not vote to confirm him amid mounting evidence of scandals.

The evidence is part of a House Ethics Committee report that includes testimony from a woman who says she was 17 years old when Gaetz had sex with her.

It also contains testimony from a former girlfriend of Gaetz who says the Florida congressman was present at a party where illegal drugs were being consumed. The girlfriend said she knew about Gaetz's sexual relationship with the then teenage girl.

If he had been confirmed by the Senate, he would have overseen the same division of the Justice Department that participated in investigating him. The Justice Department investigation of Gaetz ended last year without charges but the years-long Ethics Committee investigation continued.

Gaetz denies wrongdoing. He responded to Ethics Committee questions in September before posting his responses on social media.

"Your correspondence of September 4 asks whether I have engaged in sexual activity with any individual under 18. The answer to this question is unequivocally NO. You can apply this response to every version of this question, in every forum," Gaetz wrote on social media.

The Ethics Committee reportedly obtained records of Venmo payments by Gaetz to women with whom he had sex.

For more information, contact The Legal Forum (www.legal-forum.net) at email: tramstack@gmail.com or phone: 202-479-7240.