By Sarah N. Lynch and Daniel Trotta
(Reuters) -U.S. President-elect Donald Trump said on Thursday he would nominate former Florida Attorney General and loyalist Pam Bondi to be U.S. Attorney General, moving swiftly to replace his former nominee Matt Gaetz after the embattled former congressman withdrew from consideration.
Gaetz was the subject of a House Ethics Committee probe into allegations of having sex with an underage 17-year-old girl and illicit drug use. He has denied wrongdoing.
Bondi, 59, was the top law enforcement officer of the country’s third most populous state from 2011 to 2019, and served on Trump’s Opioid and Drug Abuse Commission during his first administration.
Bondi was part of Trump’s defense team during his first impeachment trial, in which he was accused of pressuring Ukraine to conduct a corruption investigation into his rival, now-President Joe Biden, by withholding military aid. Trump was later acquitted by the Senate.
Most recently, Bondi helped lead the legal arm of the America First Policy Institute, a right-leaning think tank whose personnel has worked closely with Trump’s campaign to help shape policy for his incoming administration.
Bondi’s resume contrasts with that of Gaetz, who has little of the traditional experience expected of an attorney general and who expected to face opposition from Senate Democrats and some Republicans.
“She is certainly qualified for the position on paper,” said David Weinstein, a former federal prosecutor in Florida who now works as a defense attorney with Jones Walker.
“She spent her life prosecuting cases. She has a resume, as compared to the last nominee.”
Trump announced his pick of Bondi on social media, praising her for her prosecutorial experience and saying she was tough on crime as Florida’s first female attorney general.
Trump, who was elected on Nov. 5 despite being the subject of multiple criminal investigations from U.S. and state prosecutors, said Bondi would end the politicization of federal prosecutions.
“For too long, the partisan Department of Justice has been weaponized against me and other Republicans – Not anymore,” Trump said.
“Pam will refocus the DOJ to its intended purpose of fighting Crime, and Making America Safe Again.”
STAUNCH DEFENDER
Trump has railed against the current Justice Department leadership and vowed retribution, after Special Counsel Jack Smith secured two indictments against him over his efforts to subvert the 2020 election and his retention of classified documents after leaving the White House.
In her role at the America First Policy Institute, Bondi has remained a staunch defender of Trump.
She was among a group of attorneys to draft an amicus brief in the classified documents case in support of Trump which claimed that Smith had been unlawfully appointed.
That view was shared by U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, who dismissed the case, prompting the Justice Department to appeal.
Smith and top Justice Department officials are now assessing how to wind down both criminal cases against Trump in order to comply with a long-standing Justice Department policy that prohibits the prosecution of a sitting president.
Bondi, a conservative who had a reputation during her time as Florida’s attorney general for being tough on crime, is expected to carry out Trump’s policy agenda.
During his first term, Trump was infuriated by what he called an obstructive Justice Department, including attorneys general Jeff Sessions, who allowed a probe into alleged Russian interference, and Bill Barr, who publicly refuted his false claims his 2020 election loss was the result of fraud.
The broad contours of Trump’s plans for the Justice Department have been communicated through Trump’s own public statements, as well as statements by Mark Paoletta, a conservative attorney leading the policy planning for the Justice Department, and in interviews and public forums with former department attorneys.
Federal prosecutors will likely be directed to prioritize illegal immigration cases. Cities that hope to receive a slice of the department’s more-than-$291 million justice assistance grant program will likely have to agree to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement.
The Civil Rights Division is expected to shift its focus away from police accountability toward defending religious freedom and filing legal challenges against government and private sector diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch and Daniel Trotta; editing by Rami Ayyub and Lincoln Feast)
