Bondi repeatedly demonstrated her loyalty to Trump while serving as Florida’s attorney general.
In the end, Republican senators were not forced to choose between their dignity and the president-elect’s wrath: With former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., withdrawing from consideration to serve as Donald Trump’s next attorney general, there is no longer a need to defend a man investigated for sex trafficking — no need to tell constituents that he didn’t know the woman he allegedly paid for sex was only 17 — or risk a late-night Truth Social rant from a 78-year-old.
Why Gaetz dropped out is as much of a mystery as why he was nominated in the first place. Sure, the headlines about having sex with a minor weren’t great, but it was old news. The Florida Republican and his allies could argue that it had all been looked into by the Department of Justice and no charges were ever filed. A House ethics report could and may still shed more light, but it likely wouldn’t alter the already known gist: that Gaetz was not the sort of middle-aged man you would like hanging around any teenage girls.
Hours after he announced his sudden exit from the race, and a day after Vice President-elect JD Vance made the rounds urging senators to give Gaetz a chance, Trump had already moved on to a Florida woman: Pam Bondi, a loyalist who served as the Sunshine State’s attorney general from 2011 to 2019, during which time she also served as a fill-in host for Fox News. After leaving office, she defended Trump during his first impeachment trial for attempting to extort Ukraine, going all-in on the debunked claim that President Joe Biden had a prosecutor there fired because they were doing too much to address corruption (the opposite was in fact the case).
Unlike Gaetz, Bondi at least has a good deal of experience actually practicing the law and overseeing a large office; she has also not been accused of sexual misconduct. That’s also why some who criticized the Gaetz pick aren’t celebrating his replacement.
“Bondi looks more ‘normal’ on the surface, and she has the kind of experience you look for for a position like this,” former U.
