Bondi Was Always the Play
Since Matt Gaetz withdrew his name from consideration as President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for US Attorney General yesterday, Trump has now tapped longtime ally and election denialist Pam Bondi for the job. Bondi was a key player in Trump’s legal defense team during his first impeachment trial, and continued to support the former president in his false claims that the 2020 election had been stolen by Biden. She also showed her unwavering support for Trump during his hush money trial in New York City, in which Donald Trump was convicted of 34 counts of fraud.
More Bondi Background
Bondi’s ties to Trump go back many years and she has been previously embroiled in controversy with the former president. In 2013, The Trump Foundation — which was legally dissolved by court order in 2018 after various legal violations came to light — made a $25,000 donation to a campaign group affiliated with Bondi when she was serving as Florida Attorney General. The donation in question was made at the same time that Bondi's office was tasked with looking into fraud allegations against Trump University. Despite Trump being found guilty of fraud in the State of New York, no charges were ever brought against Trump or his foundation by Bondi or her team.
In 2014, Bondi persuaded then Florida Governor Rick Scott to postpone the execution of a Miami-Dade County man when it conflicted with her "hometown campaign kickoff" at her South Tampa home. The execution had previously been stayed twice by the courts when Bondi appealed to Scott to delay again so she could accommodate her party. "Wherever one stands on the death penalty, there isn't anyone in America that believes an execution should be postponed for political fundraising," said David Donnelly, executive director of Public Campaign Action Fund.
During the US House of Representative’s January 6 investigation, Bondi appeared on Fox News on Trump’s behalf to call the process a “show trial.” She was also one of several Trump allies who offered a job to Cassidy Hutchinson, a key witness against Trump in the January 6th Hearings during a time when the move could easily have been seen as a quid pro quo offer to silence the former Trump White House aide.
Bondi Has the Legal Background Gaetz Was Missing
Born in Tampa, Florida, Pam Bondi studied criminal justice at the University of Florida in 1987, before going on to receive a professional degree from Stetson University College of Law three years later. She was admitted to the Florida Bar in 1991.
Before entering politics, Bondi spent more than 18 years as a prosecutor at the Hillsborough County State Attorney’s Office, trying cases "ranging from domestic violence to capital murder," according to a profile on her lobbying firm's website. She was elected as Florida's first female attorney general in 2010, thanks in part to the support of former vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin, and she campaigned on promises of tackling opioid abuse and, ironically, human trafficking. See: Matt Gaetz Sex Trafficking Investigation.
More RNC Controversy
At the 2020 Republican National Convention (RNC), Bondi was front and center in her role as a Trump loyalist, and dutifully accused President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden, of corruption. "Our party’s theme tonight is America, the land of opportunity," said Bondi at the RNC. “But for Joe Biden, it’s been the land of opportunism, not opportunity.” (Bondi made her accusations of impropriety and nepotism just before Donald Trump, Jr., Eric Trump and Tiffany Trump took the stage to bolster their father’s campaign.)
In November of that same year, Bondi was a prominent figure for Trump’s team, which alleged voter fraud outside the Philadelphia Convention Center, and she erroneously insisted that Donald Trump had won Pennsylvania even before the state had declared its election results.
Pam Bondi as also served as the head of Trump-related political action committees, called: Make America Great Again, Again, and was the Chair of Litigation at the America First Policy Institute, a MAGA-affiliated legal advocacy group. Bondi has publicly denounced any prosecution against Donald Trump as a “weaponization” of the justice system and has worked tirelessly to limit legal scrutiny of the former president.
Bondi is a Threat to Our Civil Liberties
As Florida’s Attorney General, Bondi filed a lawsuit requesting that the Florida Supreme Court overrule a lower court decision that found the state’s same-sex marriage ban unconstitutional. She also directed a legal challenge to President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act before the US Supreme Court, over its contraception coverage mandate, which hints at Trump’s intention to attempt to dismantle the health care system in America, again.
In 2017, Bondi defended a then-Florida law that required women to wait 24 hours after meeting with a physician to receive an abortion. As attorney general, she would be responsible for directing the federal government, and all of their resources, in pursing any cases or investigations related to abortion rights and their curtailment.
In 2012, Bondi supported a controversial immigration bill modeled after an Arizona law that allowed the police to ask for immigration papers from people they suspected were in the country illegally. Now that Trump is intending to begin mass deportations on the first day of his next presidency, Bondi would serve in the crucial role of guiding his administration legally, as Trump and his Project 2025 team begin to set up migrant internment camps.
Bondi Was Always the Pick
Unlike the reaction to the nomination of Matt Gaetz, this latest nomination of Pam Bondi has proven much more positive, especially among Senate Republicans. This will undoubtedly help bolster her confirmation. "Picking Pam Bondi for Attorney General is a grand slam, touchdown, hole in one, ace, hat trick, slam dunk, Olympic gold medal pick," said Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) on the quickly devolving Twitter (X) platform. Graham is a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which will oversee the confirmation of all of Trump’s appointees.
Just like Matt Gaetz, Bondi has close political ties to the Heritage Foundation and the main architects of Project 2025, but unlike Gaetz, she has a legal background that will help fuel her nomination. Like Gaetz, Bondi has been a dutiful Trump solider and publicly criticized any criminal charges made against Donald Trump, while speaking out openly against Special Counsel Jack Smith and any other Department of Justice prosecutors who charged the former president in two federal cases.
Unlike Matt Gaetz, who is still under investigation for sex trafficking underage girls, and unlike Trump’s current nominee for Secretary of Defense, who was accused of raping a woman in a hotel following a conservative political event in 2017, Bondi has a lot less sexual assault baggage to contend with during her confirmation process. It is precisely this feature, combined with her qualifications as a former attorney general that could easily lead someone to think that Matt Gaetz was only nominated as a fall guy candidate to help bolster the confirmation of one of Trump’s intended, more dangerous nominees.
While Bondi has not been investigated or charged for any felonies (yet), she has willingly taken part in Trump’s stolen election narrative, which would make her a politically biased public servant who has crossed the professional line many times to appease Trump with her support. Her nomination for the position of United States Attorney General is even more dangerous, as she will also be in charge of the the Department of Justice and the Office for Civil Rights, responsible for enforcing federal civil rights for historically marginalized communities, including LGBTQ+ people.
While it is hard to imagine that Matt Gaetz was ever a serious candidate for any type of office involved in federal law enforcement, it is easy to see why Donald Trump and his team would lead with Gaetz. A tarnished Congressman as a front runner for attorney general is easily replaced with a woman who could be likened professionally to former Attorney General Bill Bar. Perhaps the plan to nominate an overgrown frat boy was always meant to offset the nomination of a token female candidate to provide the appearance of finally taking the appointment seriously. Sadly, we all know the truth — Pam Bondi is ten times more dangerous than Matt Gaetz.
Amee Vanderpool writes the SHERO Newsletter, is an attorney, published author, contributor to newspapers and magazines, and an analyst for BBC radio. She can be reached at avanderpool@gmail.com or follow her on Twitter @girlsreallyrule.
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Isn’t she a registered foreign agent for Quatar? That should be disqualifying, but I’m sure Trump’s toadies in the senate will pass her on through. They’ll ignore the $25k bribe as well. Try finding republicans who haven’t taken bribes, raped women or trafficked kids, good luck.
Trump would never intentionally allow himself to look like a fool, even in furtherance of malign strategy. He intended the Gaetz pick and lost. Bondi was a fallback. The man is vulnerable, as is the US, to Christofascist attack. The flawed “leader” will also be cast aside for one smarter and more malevolent.