Who is Pam Bondi, Trump’s new pick to lead the US justice department? | Trump administration

Pam Bondi, Donald Trump’s new decide to steer the US justice division, was the primary feminine legal professional basic of Florida however is probably greatest recognized in recent times as a loyalist to the previous president.

Trump introduced Bondi as his nominee for US legal professional basic on Thursday hours after Matt Gaetz, Trump’s first decide, bowed out of consideration amid rising Republican opposition following sexual misconduct allegations in opposition to him.

“I’m proud to announce former Lawyer Basic of the Nice State of Florida, Pam Bondi, as our subsequent Lawyer Basic of the USA. Pam was a prosecutor for practically 20 years, the place she was very robust on Violent Criminals,” Trump mentioned in a Reality Social put up.

Bondi has been a chair on the America First Coverage Institute, a thinktank arrange by former Trump administration staffers, and served on Trump’s first transition staff.

The 59-year-old has been a longtime Trump ally – she was thought-about throughout his first time period as a possible candidate for the nation’s highest regulation enforcement position.

Trump was informed by advisers that she was different to Gaetz as a result of she has allies throughout the Republican celebration in addition to inside Trump’s world, in keeping with individuals conversant in the matter, the Guardian reported Thursday.

Earlier than she turned concerned in nationwide politics, Bondi spent greater than 18 years as a prosecutor within the Hillsborough county state legal professional’s workplace. She was a political unknown when she was elected as Florida’s first feminine legal professional basic in 2010 and had obtained an endorsement from the previous vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin.

She served as Florida’s prime prosecutor from 2011 to 2019, and later as a lobbyist for US and worldwide purchasers.

Bondi’s tenure as legal professional basic additionally coincided with two of probably the most high-profile and lethal shootings the nation has seen. In 2016, after 47 individuals have been shot and killed and greater than 50 have been injured in an extremist assault on an LGBTQIA+ nightclub in Orlando, Bondi was referred to as out on-air by CNN’s Anderson Cooper over her help for a ban on same-sex marriage within the state.

Two years later, 17 college students and workers have been shot and killed by a former scholar at Marjory Stoneman Douglas highschool. Bondi referred to as for the loss of life penalty for the shooter and supported then governor Rick Scott within the passage of the state’s first gun-restriction laws, which raised the minimal age for somebody to purchase a gun from 18 to 21. It additionally appropriates thousands and thousands of {dollars} for expanded psychological well being assets in faculties, to construct a alternative for Marjory Stoneman Douglas highschool and for heightened campus safety.

Bondi’s ties to Trump return years. Whereas serving as Florida’s legal professional basic, she backed Trump in 2016 over a candidate from her residence state, Marco Rubio.

In 2016, the Related Press revealed that Bondi had personally requested Trump for a donation to her marketing campaign three years earlier. The funds got here by way of a Trump household basis, which is in violation of insurance policies round charities participating in politics. The $25,000 donation additionally got here as Bondi’s workplace was contemplating becoming a member of New York in an investigation of Trump’s universities, over allegations of fraud and false guarantees about what coaching and job prospects for college kids would seem like. As soon as the verify arrived, Bondi declined to take part within the investigation, in keeping with the Related Press.

Bondi did attempt to ship the verify again, the Florida Occasions-Union reported, however it was rejected and returned by Trump.

Bondi was then certainly one of Trump’s attorneys throughout his 2019 impeachment proceedings, when he was accused – however not convicted – of making an attempt to make army help to Ukraine depending on that nation’s willingness to research Joe Biden. And through Trump’s hush-money trial, Bondi was certainly one of a handful of Republicans to point out as much as courtroom to help him.

Bondi has harshly criticized the felony circumstances in opposition to Trump in addition to Jack Smith, the particular counsel who charged Trump in two federal circumstances. She described Smith and different prosecutors who’ve charged Trump as “horrible” individuals “weaponizing our authorized system”.

If she is confirmed, Bondi will be part of a number of different members of Trump’s authorized staff within the justice division.

The Related Press contributed to this report