She may be Donald Trump’s second choice to take on the role of Attorney General of the United States of America (USA), but, on the other side of the relationship, Pam Bondi has always placed the newly elected President of the USA on top. of their professionalism and policies.

In recent years, she was an unavoidable ally of the Republican, when she won the 2016 elections, but also when she lost the presidential race in 2020. Even in the process, with the aim of preventing Trump from running for the US presidency again, Bondi it was always there.

The Republican’s choice was confirmed a few hours after Matt Gaetz, the first choice, dropped out of the race before even being confirmed in the position. In addition to his controversial positions as a congressman and his unpopularity within the Republican Party, Gaetz was also the subject of an Ethics Committee investigation for sexual misconduct. You will have paid to have sexual relations with a minor under 17 years of age.

From assistant district attorney in Hillsborough to debut as Florida’s first female attorney general

The daughter of a small-town mayor in the Tampa area, Pam Bondi began working as an assistant state’s attorney in Hillsborough County in the 1990s. For 18 years, she served as a local prosecutor where she tried cases of all shapes and sizes. . According to The New York Times, the cases he was assigned “ranged from domestic violence to capital murder.”

Almost two decades later, she became the first woman to serve as attorney general of the State of Florida. He remained in office for eight years, from 2011 to 2019.

During her tenure, the Republican faced several media lawsuits, including a shooting at an LGBTQ+ nightclub in Orlando in 2016. 50 people were killed and dozens were injured. Bondi was, at the time, leading a legal fight, which had dragged on for several years, to preserve Florida’s constitutional ban on same-sex marriage.

In a popular interview, CNN’s Anderson Cooper confronted her with the apparent “hypocrisy” of appearing as a defender of the gay community that had just been attacked by the Islamic State, since she had fought for years to ban homosexuals. marriage in the State they represent. He responded that he was defending the American Constitution.

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Two years later, in 2018, he returned to the media space for calling for the death penalty for the perpetrator of the Parkland massacre, at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Nicolás Cruz, a former student of the school, who was 19 years old at the time, shot indiscriminately at members of the school community. The attack left 17 dead and the same number injured. After this case, Pam Bondi supported Governor Rick Scott in passing Florida’s first gun restriction legislation, which raised the minimum age to purchase a gun from 18 to 21.

The alliance with Trump that was born from an improper donation to the Bondi state candidacy

Bondi, now 59, is a longtime ally of Donald Trump and in 2016, during the Republican’s first term, she had been considered a possible candidate for the position of attorney general of the United States. Trump opted for William Barr.

Eight years ago, Florida’s then-attorney general made her debut as a television commentator on Fox News, where she fiercely defended candidate Trump. In fact, he left behind support for a candidate from his own state, Marco Rubio, to support the candidacy of the then millionaire with no relevant previous political career.

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At the time, the Associated Press revealed that Bondi had personally asked Trump for a Donate to your state campaign three years before. The funds, worth $25,000, were exchanged through the Trump family foundation, violating policies regarding charities involved in US political campaigns.

In addition to constituting an illegal transaction, the donation came at a time when the Bondi State Attorney’s Office was considering joining the New York City Attorney’s Office in an investigation into Trump universities due to fraud allegations in connection with the curriculum of business courses, according to the Reuters news agency. as well as empty promises about guaranteed career opportunities.

According to journalistic investigations, the moment in which Bondi withdrew from participating in the interstate investigation coincides with the moment in which Donald Trump’s donation came into his hands.

From the prosecution to the legal profession to defend Trump during the impeachment process in 2019

From the Florida Attorney General’s Office, Bondi went on to work as a lobbyist at Ballard Partners. She was an associate of Susie Wiles, Trump’s campaign manager and the new chief of staff of the president-elect of the United States. Among the lobbying firm’s American clients were, according to the Associated Press, General Motors and a Christian human trafficking advocacy group.

The connection between Pam Bondi and Donald Trump had been consolidated years before, but in 2019, the former state prosecutor joined the legal team that defended the Republican in his first impeachment process (chathage), when he was accused, but not convicted, of trying because military assistance to Ukraine depended on that country’s willingness to investigate Joe Biden.

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Bondi has, in recent years, been an active voice in harsh criticism of the criminal cases against Trump during his first term, as well as against Jack Smith, the prosecutor who charged the then-president in two federal cases. The Republican called Smith and other prosecutors who accused Trump “horrible” people and professionals who “trapped” the American legal system with these prosecutions.

A unanimous figure among Republicans who consider her a good alternative to Gaetz

“I am proud to announce former Attorney General of the Great State of Florida, Pam Bondi, as our next United States Attorney General. Pam was a prosecutor for almost 20 years, where she was very tough on violent criminals,” Trump said in a Truth Social post.

If confirmed, Bondi will join several other members of Trump’s former legal teams at the Justice Department. According to sources close to the nomination process for the new United States Attorney General, Trump’s advisors consider the former Florida prosecutor as a unanimous figure within the Republican Party.

In reaction to the announcement of Bondi’s appointment, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham predicted that the new option highlighted by Trump “will be confirmed quickly”, in contrast to the impasse generated by the supposed appointment of Gaetz.

News of Bondi’s appointment came about six hours after Gaetz said he would not run for the top job. By announcing his retirement, the 41-year-old put an end to the controversy over his possible appointment. “It was unfairly becoming a distraction” to the work of the incoming Trump administration, he said.