Pam Bondi, the attorney general of Florida, had to decide in 2013 whether to join other state attorneys general’s investigations into Trump University, where students paid up to $35,000 for business programs that detractors said were fraudulent.
Bondi and Kamala Harris, the attorney general of California at the time, refused to participate in the inquiry despite student accusations of exploitation. Both claimed that the money affected their office’s choice, despite having accepted campaign donations from Donald Trump.
The two former state attorneys general have since taken diametrically opposed political trajectories. In the 2020 and 2024 elections, Harris criticized Trump, portraying him as a threat to democracy and a commercial scam.It was earlier this month that Trump was reelected.
Over the past ten years, Bondi has defended Trump and attacked anybody who look into him. Bondi will now serve as President-elect Trump’s attorney general if the Senate confirms him.
Whether Bondi will fulfill her promises in TV interviews to look into what she described as unruly FBI agents and federal prosecutors is a major concern.
Bondis stated on Fox News last year that “The Department of Justice, the prosecutors will be prosecuted, the bad ones,” following Trump’s indictment in Georgia on allegations of attempting to change the 2020 election results. “The investigators will be investigated.”
Bondi referred to the prosecutors who brought charges against Trump as members of “the deep state” and propagated a fictitious conspiracy theory that FBI agents and DOJ prosecutors were members of a covert group attempting to discredit Trump. Without providing proof, Bondi claimed that since they were no longer “hiding in the shadows… they can all be investigated.”
A request for comment from Bondi was not immediately answered.
Reactions to Bondi, who Trump appointed attorney general just hours after Rep. Matt Gaetz, who has denied repeatedly that he paid prostitutes and had sex with a child, withdrew from consideration, have been varied among current and former Justice Department officials.
According to DOJ officials, Bondi’s extensive experience as a municipal prosecutor and Florida attorney general makes her a far better choice than Gaetz. However, they perceive her as a Trump supporter who they fear may follow his lead in looking into his opponents.
“I would expect her to do exactly what Trump wants her to do,” a senior Justice Department official who just left the position stated. Members of Special Counsel Jack Smith’s staff are quite worried and speaking with attorneys, he continued.
The Washington Post said Friday that Trump plans to remove Smith and the whole staff that assisted Smith in indicting Trump on federal charges of mishandling sensitive documents and trying to change the 2020 election results, citing two people familiar with Trump’s transition.
Additionally, according to The Post, Trump anticipates that the Justice Department will look into his long-debunked allegations of massive election fraud in 2020.
Past Trump attorneys general
Trump’s 2020 allegations of election fraud were dismissed by his previous attorney general, William Barr, who also refused to open a Justice Department investigation into them due to a lack of proof. Barr resigned after declaring in public that there was no proof of widespread wrongdoing.
Six senior DOJ officials threatened to quit when Trump attempted to name Jeffrey Clark, a DOJ officer who backed his fabricated 2020 fraud allegations, as acting attorney general. Trump’s followers stormed the US Capitol three days later to prevent his defeat from being certified.
Bondi, on the other hand, backed President Trump’s fraud allegations. She went to Philadelphia and gave press conferences where she asserted that Trump had lost the election and circulated inaccurate allegations of massive ballot fraud.
Bondi stated, “We are aware that ballots have been discarded.” “We’ve heard that dead ballots were being sent to voters. the phenomenon that is taking place across the nation.”
Bondi also defended Trump during his initial impeachment, arguing that the president was the victim of an unjust investigation. In the course of the
According to the firm’s website, Bondi is currently a partner at Ballard Partners, a lobbying firm, where she oversees the corporate regulatory compliance practice.
Bondi has been defended by some Florida lawyers who claim that she complied with state attorney general standards. Bondi will be far more beneficial to the DOJ than Gaetz, according to Dave Aronberg, the state attorney for Palm Beach County, Florida, who spoke to The Washington Post.
“She is hands-on and she is also loyal to her co-workers, meaning she s not going to try to push anyone out because they are a Democrat or a career prosecutor who is apolitical,” Aronberg told the Washington Post. “She believes in the rule of law.”
If Bondi is confirmed, the question now is whether she will honor her public pledge that “the prosecutors will be prosecuted.” Additionally, like her predecessors, she will be fired by Trump if she chooses not to bring charges against prosecutors for political reasons.
Although he did not know Bondi well, a former DOJ officer who served during the first Trump administration claimed to know Trump.
“I think whoever he picks is bound to be loyal to him first and foremost,” he stated. “For him, that is the crucial test. I don’t think he will choose someone above him who will be honorable and devoted to the Constitution.”
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