Washington:
Continuing with his trend of picking loyalists, Donald Trump has made yet another nomination picking Pam Bondi as Attorney General. This came after Matt Gaetz withdrew his candidacy amid a deluge of allegations regarding sex trafficking and drug use.
Here are five things to know about Pam Bondi,Trump’s new pick for Attorney General:
- Pam Bondi wrote history in 2010 when she was elected as the first female attorney general of Florida. She had already spent more than 18 years as a prosecutor in the Hillsborough County State Attorney’s Office; she rose to fame only after holding the state’s principal legal officer position. In office, Bondi highlighted the issue of human trafficking and advocated for stricter laws on the matter. She also started a litigation in Florida against opioid manufacturers. She held the position for a period of 8 years, from 2011-2019.
- As a longtime ally of Trump, Bondi was present as one of his lawyers during his first impeachment trial when the latter was accused but not convicted of abusing his powers for allegedly pressuring the Ukraine president to investigate his Democrat rivals while withholding $400 million military assistance to the country. Bondi stood by Trump’s claims of Joe Biden engaging in corruption along with son Hunter. Although the accusations have never been substantiated, her eagerness to support Trump gained her a principal spot at the Republican National Convention, the same year.
- Bondi was entangled in a 16-month long custody battle over a dog called Master Tank who was rescued in Florida after Hurricane Katrina. She then adopted him and renamed him Noah. The Louisiana family that previously had him learned about his whereabouts in 2006. However, Bondi refused to give him back citing negligence by the earlier owners. “I took a dog who was a walking skeleton,” she told St. Petersburg Times. “That’s what was wrong with him before the hurricane.” She added that if it had been a stable environment, she would have dropped the dog back herself. Subsequently the two sides settled before the trial with Bondi returning the dog.
- Pam Bondi reinforced Trump’s claims of election fraud in 2020 when Joe Biden won the presidential elections. a Fox News host asked her “Pam, did you just say fake ballots?” to which she responded saying, “There could be. That’s the problem.” Although she did not provide any evidence.
- Trump and Bondi go back quite a few years. He said in a Truth Social post, “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!” In 2013, Bondi received a $25,000 donation for her fundraising committee for her attorney general reelection campaign. During that time her office had a case that probed Trump and Trump University. Ultimately she did not join the lawsuit and moreover, both of them denied that the donation was the reason she was not part of the lawsuit.