In 2013, Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi’s office was faced with deciding whether to join other state attorneys general’ investigations into Trump University. Students were paying up to $35,000 for business classes at Trump University, which critics said was a scam.
Despite receiving complaints of exploitation from students, both Bondi and then-California Attorney General Kamala Harris declined to participate in the investigation. Both men denied receiving political donations from Donald Trump and that the money influenced their offices’ decisions.
Since then, the two former state attorneys general have followed diametrically opposed political paths. Harris attacked Trump in the 2020 and 2024 elections, painting him as a corporate fraud and a threat to democracy. Trump won re-election earlier this month.
Mr. Bondi has spent the past decade defending Mr. Trump and attacking those investigating him. Now, if confirmed by the Senate, Bondi will become President-elect Trump’s attorney general.
A central question is whether Ms. Bondi will follow through on a pledge she made in a television interview to investigate what she called out-of-control federal prosecutors and FBI officials.
“The Department of Justice, the prosecutors will indict the bad guys,” Bondi said on Fox News last year after Trump was indicted in Georgia on charges of trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election. “Investigators will be questioned.”
Bondi has called the prosecutors who charged Trump with crimes members of the “deep state” and said Justice Department prosecutors and FBI agents are part of a secret cabal trying to undermine Trump. Spreading false conspiracy theories. Mr. Bondi offered no evidence, but said they were no longer “hiding in the shadows…they can all be investigated.”
Bondi did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Current and former Justice Department officials say President Trump will be the attorney general hours after Congressman Matt Gaetz, who has repeatedly denied allegations of paying prostitutes or having sex with minors, withdrew from deliberations. There have been a variety of reactions to Mr. Bondi’s choice.
Justice Department officials said they view Mr. Bondi as a much better choice than Mr. Gaetz because of his long career as a district attorney and Florida attorney general. At the same time, they worry that she may view her as a Trump supporter and not hesitate to pursue investigations into her opponents.
“We expect her to do exactly what President Trump wants her to do,” said a recently resigned senior Justice Department official. He added that members of Special Counsel Jack Smith’s team are very concerned and are consulting with their attorneys.
On Friday, The Washington Post, citing two people close to Trump’s transition, reported that Trump is facing federal charges for mishandling classified documents and attempting to overturn the results of the 2020 election. The company reported that it intends to fire Smith and his entire team who helped prosecute him.
The newspaper also reported that President Trump expects the Justice Department to investigate his claims of widespread fraud in the long-discredited 2020 election.
former attorney general trump
Trump’s last attorney general, William Barr, denied allegations of election fraud in 2020 and refused to open an investigation by the Justice Department, citing a lack of evidence. Barr resigned after publicly saying there was no evidence of widespread wrongdoing.
Six top Justice Department officials threatened to resign when President Trump tried to appoint Jeffrey Clark, a Justice Department official who supported allegations of fraud in 2020, as acting attorney general. Three days later, Trump’s supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol to stop the certification of Trump’s defeat.
Mr. Bondi, on the other hand, supported Mr. Trump’s claims of wrongdoing. She traveled to Philadelphia and held a press conference touting false claims of widespread voting fraud and claiming the election was stolen from Trump.
“We know that ballots were thrown away,” Bondi said. “We’re hearing about people receiving dead ballots. That’s happening all over the country.”
Mr. Bondi also served as Mr. Trump’s defense attorney during his first impeachment, arguing that the president was being unfairly investigated. meanwhile,
Mr. Bondi is currently a partner at lobbying firm Ballard Partners and chairs the firm’s corporate regulatory compliance practice, according to the firm’s website.
Some Florida lawyers defended Mr. Bondi, saying he was following the standards of the state’s attorney general. Dave Aronberg, the state’s attorney for Palm Beach County, Florida, told the Washington Post that Bondi would be a much better fit for the Justice Department than Gaetz.
“She’s practical and loyal to her colleagues, which means she’s not going to try to get rid of someone just because they’re an apolitical Democrat or a career prosecutor,” Aronberg told the Post. “She believes in the rule of law.”
The question now is whether Mr. Bondi will keep his promise that “prosecutors will prosecute” if confirmed. And if she refuses to prosecute prosecutors for political reasons, she could be forced out by President Trump, just like her predecessor.
A former Justice Department official who worked in the first Trump administration said he didn’t know Bondi well but knew Trump.
“I think whoever he chooses should be loyal to him first and foremost,” he said. “That’s the key test for him. I don’t expect him to choose someone more honorable and loyal to the Constitution than himself.”
