Pam Bondi, who defended Trump during his first impeachment trial, picked for US Attorney General role after Gaetz steps down
Pam Bondi, the former attorney general of Florida, to be US attorney general just hours after his other choice, Matt Gaetz, withdrew his name. Bondi is a longtime Trump ally and was one of his lawyers during his first impeachment trial when he was accused — but not convicted — of abusing his power as he tried to condition US military assistance to Ukraine on that country investigating then-former Vice President Joe Biden.
She has been a chair at the America First Policy Institute, a think tank set up by former Trump administration staffers.
Bondi is from Tampa and spent more than 18 years as a prosecutor. She was Florida's first female attorney general.
What are controversies of Pam Bondi?
In 2013, while serving as Florida's Attorney General, Pam Bondi publicly apologized for requesting a delay in the execution of Marshall Lee Gore, a man convicted of murder, due to a scheduling conflict with a campaign fundraiser. Bondi admitted that her request for Governor Rick Scott to push back Gore’s execution by three weeks was wrong.
Before entering state politics, Bondi worked for the Hillsborough County State Attorney’s Office. She is a prominent figure in Donald Trump’s inner circle, having chaired the America First Policy Institute, a think tank founded by former Trump administration officials. Bondi has also been an outspoken critic of the criminal cases against Trump. In a recent radio interview, she described Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith and other prosecutors involved in Trump's cases as «horrible»
