Trump Goes Back To Sunshine State For New AG Nominee; Florida’s Pam Bondi Selected After Matt Gaetz Drops Out

Dominic Patten

21 November 2024 at 6:53 pm·2-min read

Just hours after scandal-ridden ex-Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz took himself out of consideration to be Donald Trump’s attorney general, the former and future president has gone back to the Sunshine State for his second choice to be America’s top cop.

Former Florida AG Pam Bondi is the new pick to run the Department of Justice.

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“For too long, the partisan Department of Justice has been weaponized against me and other Republicans – Not anymore,” Trump posted Thursday afternoon on social media. “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!”

( @realDonaldTrump – Truth Social Post )
( Donald J. Trump – Nov 21, 2024, 6:28 PM ET )

I am proud to announce former Attorney General of the Great State of Florida, Pam Bondi, as our next Attorney General of the United States. Pam was a prosecutor for nearly 20 years, where she… pic.twitter.com/e7PNJimdGS
— Donald J. Trump 🇺🇸 TRUTH POSTS (@TruthTrumpPosts) November 21, 2024

Like Gaetz and many other Trump appointees for his second term, Bondi is a longtime Trump loyalist. After numerous media appearances on Fox News and elsewhere claiming without solid evidence that some states in the 2020 election were stolen from Trump for Joe Biden, Bondi was rewarded in the lead-up to Trump leaving office with a place on the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts board of trustees.

Serving as Florida’s AG from 2011-2019 and the first woman elected to the job, Bondi served on Trump’s defense team for his first impeachment trial in early 2020. Also known for moving an execution because it conflicted with a fundraising event and for fostering close ties to the Clearwater, FL-based Church of Scientology, Bondi will likely have a pretty smooth confirmation process and vote in the Senate, especially now that Gaetz is gone.

Gaetz’s departure and the Bondi pick could help Trump regain some of his quickly squandered political capital and ease the way for other controversial nominees like Tulsi Gabbard, ex-Fox News host Pete Hegseth and RFK Jr looking to be confirmed.

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