Hours after his first pick to run the nation’s top law enforcement agency dropped out, President-elect Donald Trump named former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi as his new choice to run the Justice Department, writes CNN.
Trump made the announcement in a post on social media Thursday evening – the same day that former Rep. Matt Gaetz, whom the president-elect had selected for the role last week, withdrew from consideration.
“For too long, the partisan Department of Justice has been weaponized against me and other Republicans - Not anymore,” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform. “Pam will refocus the DOJ to its intended purpose of fighting Crime, and Making America Safe Again. 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!”
Bondi had been under consideration for the role before Trump tapped the former congressman, a person with knowledge of the deliberations told CNN, and some considered Bondi to be one of the president-elect’s favorite lawyers.
Gaetz’s selection had quickly faced trouble as his prospects for Senate approval narrowed amid growing pressure from lawmakers, including some in his own party, for the release of a House Ethics Committee investigative report into him.
The report, which has not yet been made public by the committee, details the panel’s investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct and other alleged crimes by Gaetz.
The Florida Republican has vehemently denied the allegations investigated by the committee and the Justice Department, including the claim that he had sex with a woman in 2017 when she was a minor. He has not been charged with a crime.
Ultimately, Trump called Gaetz Thursday and said that he did not have the votes in the Senate to win confirmation, CNN reported, and the former congressman subsequently said on social media that he would be declining the nomination. He applauded Trump’s latest pick as “a stellar selection”.