Pam Bondi, Trump's pick for attorney general, praised as 'loyal' and 'qualified' for top US prosecutor role

President-elect Donald Trump tapped erstwhile Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi connected Thursday to caput up the U.S. Department of Justice successful his 2nd term—a swift determination but 1 met with small astonishment among galore successful Trump's orbit.

That's due to the fact that Bondi, 59, has emerged arsenic a close state of the president-elect successful caller years—including defending him successful his impeachment proceedings, and much recently, successful the run-up to Election Day, wherever she serves arsenic the co-chair of the Center for Law and Justice astatine the America First Policy Institute (AFPI) a deliberation vessel acceptable up by erstwhile Trump staffers.

Like erstwhile Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, who withdrew his name from information for lawyer wide Thursday afternoon, Bondi is from Florida and is considered by galore to beryllium a staunch loyalist of the president-elect, dedicated to rooting retired what the president-elect has described arsenic the "weaponization" of the Justice Department. 

Beyond that, however, the 2 look to person small successful common. 

FLURRY OF PRE-ELECTION LEGAL CASES IS NOW 'STANDARDIZED' STRATEGY, EXPERTS SAY

Pam Bondi speaks during a property league portion connected a interruption from erstwhile President Donald Trump's hush wealth proceedings extracurricular Manhattan Criminal Court successful New York City. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images) (Getty)

A Florida native, Bondi has spent years arsenic a authoritative successful the Sunshine State—spending 18 arsenic a authoritative successful the Hillsborough County State Attorney’s Office earlier being elected successful 2010 to service arsenic Florida's archetypal pistillate lawyer general. 

More recently, Bondi has utilized her perch astatine AFPI to dependable concerns astir predetermination security—a large contented that Republicans sought to stress arsenic they filed a flurry of re-election lawsuits, chiefly successful large plaything states.

If confirmed, it is apt that Bondi volition usage her station to instrumentality galore of Trump's tough-on-crime argumentation proposals, including cracking down connected cartels, fentanyl, trafficking and more. 

A website for Trump's Agenda47 called for policies specified arsenic extending the death penalty for quality traffickers, ending payment for migrants surviving successful the U.S. illegally, and cracking down connected convulsive transgression successful large cities, which Trump has described arsenic having declined into "cesspools of bloodshed and crime."

In the hours aft her nomination, however, it remained unclear how—or whether—she planned to instrumentality immoderate of these proposals. 

One subordinate of the Trump modulation squad pointed Fox News Digital to a wide circulated clip of CNN ineligible expert Elie Honig highlighting Bondi's qualifications for the role.

"Pam Bondi is, without a question, qualified to beryllium lawyer general," Honig said successful the clip, calling her acquisition "on par with, oregon amended than, astir United States attorneys wide that we've seen implicit the past 50 years oregon so."

"Even CNN is fawning implicit her qualifications," a root familiar, who declined to beryllium identified, told Fox News Digital.

MATT GAETZ SAYS HE WILL NOT SERVE IN THE UPCOMING SESSION OF CONGRESS

Former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi displays a tribunal bid granting Trump's run much entree to ballot counting operations astatine the Pennsylvania Convention Center, Nov. 5, 2020, successful Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Those adjacent to Bondi person praised her agelong grounds arsenic a prosecutor, and her staunch loyalty to the president-elect, alongside whom she has worked since 2020—first, helping to correspond him successful his archetypal impeachment trial, and presently successful her station astatine AFPI.

Bondi is "all astir integrity and the due exertion of justness and fairness," said Gianno Caldwell, the caput of the Caldwell Institute of Public Safety, an enactment designed to combat convulsive crime. Bondi serves connected the advisory committee of that group.

"I deliberation she's going to beryllium capable to basal retired a batch of the atrocious apples," Caldwell added. "And instrumentality the Justice Department to its accepted focus, which is instrumentality and order, and warring crime."

MIKE ROGERS REPLACING WRAY AS FBI DIRECTOR IS NOT HAPPENING, TRUMP ADVISER SAYS
 

Pam Bondi, erstwhile lawyer wide of Florida, arrives astatine the Fiserv Forum connected the 2nd time of Republican National Convention successful Milwaukee, Wis., connected Tuesday, July 16, 2024.  (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

Like different apical contenders for the role. Bondi has not been shy successful going aft Trump critics, including peculiar counsel Jack Smith, who was tapped by Attorney General Merrick Garland successful 2022 to analyse some an alleged effort by Trump and his allies to overturn the results of the 2020 election, and Trump's keeping of allegedly classified documents astatine his Mar-a-Lago residence successful Florida. 

Smith appears to beryllium winding down his investigation—a invited alleviation for the president-elect, who had vowed arsenic a campaigner to occurrence him "within 2 seconds" aft taking office. 

Still, Bondi has shared successful Trump's criticisms, utilizing a caller vigor interrogation to picture Smith and his squad of prosecutors arsenic "horrible" radical trying to marque a sanction for themselves by "going aft Donald Trump and weaponizing our ineligible system."

"Attorney General nominee Bondi is looking guardant to the confirmation process and answering immoderate questions senators mightiness have," said Alex Pfeiffer, a spokesperson for the Trump modulation team.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Bondi's beingness "has been dedicated to keeping Americans safe," helium added. "She looks guardant to continuing that enactment astatine the Department of Justice."