Soon afterwards it announced that Pam Bondi, the former attorney general of Florida, would seek the top position at the Justice Department instead.
Ms Bondi, 59, who served as Florida’s attorney general from 2011 to 2019 and represented the president-elect at his first impeachment trial in the Senate, is both an experienced public official and a long-time Trump ally. Mr Gaetz reacted to the choice on X/Twitter by calling her “a stellar selection” as well as “a proven litigator, an inspiring leader and a champion for all Americans”.
South Carolina Republican senator Lindsey Graham was even more effusive, posting: “Well done, Mr President. Picking Pam Bondi for Attorney General is a grand slam, touchdown, hole in one, ace, hat trick, slam dunk, Olympic gold medal pick. She will be confirmed quickly because she deserves to be confirmed quickly.”
Donal Trump and Ms Bondi have ties that date back over a decade, to when Bondi was serving as Florida’s first female attorney general. In 2013, as Ms Bondi’s office was receiving complaints from people alleging they had been scammed by the future president’s Trump University seminars, her political committee received a $25,000 donation from the Donald J Trump Foundation.
While New York pursued lawsuits related to the seminars, the Sunshine State did not. Both Mr Trump and Ms Bondi have denied the donation was improper or related to the charging decision. That wasn’t the only campaign-related scandal in her time in Florida. That same year, she persuaded then-governor Rick Scott to reschedule the execution of convicted murderer Marshall Lee Fore to accommodate a fundraiser.
This story is from the November 23, 2024 edition of The Independent.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the November 23, 2024 edition of The Independent.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Academy champion Pulling dreams of moving up to F1
The British driver tells Kieran Jackson about beating boys and eyeing the big time after a dominant year on the track
Fury and Usyk weigh future after bruising encounter
Years were spent debating who would emerge as this generation’s greatest heavyweight.
Win or lose it's a wild ride for fans with Ange in charge
It’s just the way they play, mate. From 3-4 to 1-1 to 5-0 to 4-3 to 3-6, with Tottenham taking and giving up leads, mounting comebacks, scoring in the first minute and conceding at almost any point, often in calamitous fashion.
Can Reeves save our frozen economy from a recession?
Jack Frost swept an icy chill across the UK economy earlier than anyone expected. Following on from last week’s grim economic news, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has revised its third quarter (July to September) estimate of GDP growth down to absolute zero.
Russian scientists reveal baby mammoth remains
Researchers in Siberia are conducting tests on a young mammoth whose remarkably well-preserved remains were discovered in thawing permafrost after more than 50,000 years.
Greenland will ‘never be for sale', its leader warns Trump
The leader of Greenland has flat-out rejected US president-elect Donald Trump’s renewed interest in purchasing the massive Arctic island from Denmark, insisting that the territory is not on the market.
Mangione pleads not guilty on New York State charges
The 26-year-old faces 11 counts including first degree murder
Far-right AfD holds rally as Magdeburg mourns victims
Market attack was carried out by an Islamist full of hatred for us Germans, for us Christians’, co-leader tells gathering
'He ripped down the tree and punched me in the face'
Thousands of women will spend this festive season trapped behind closed doors and being subjected to domestic abuse
Fresh appeal over woman set on fire 30 years ago
Three decades on from the unsolved murder of a mother who was attacked in a churchyard, detectives have renewed their push to find her killers.
