Trump’s cabinet pick for attorney general is Pam Bondi. Here’s what you need to know: NPR

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WHO: Pamela Bondi

Nominated for: Attorney General

You may know her from: She served as Florida’s attorney general for eight years, then served as President Trump’s personal attorney during his first impeachment trial in the U.S. Senate.

• She publicly pushed false claims of fraud in the 2020 election.
• She says Trump was unfairly prosecuted after leaving office in 2021.
• She called out people who investigated and prosecuted members of Trump’s “deep state” and said they would face prosecution.

What is this role for? The attorney general runs the Justice Department and oversees the more than 100,000 people who work for it and its agencies, including the FBI.

President-elect Donald Trump’s attorney general pick, Pam Bondi, appears before the Senate on Wednesday for her confirmation hearing as the nation’s attorney general.

Watch Bondi’s Senate confirmation hearing, scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday, before the Senate Judiciary Committee, here:

A former two-term attorney general of the state of Florida, Bondi is expected to receive broad support from Republicans, who hold a majority in the Senate, but will face pointed questions from Democrats who worry about whether she will protect the Department of Justice from undue political influence. or use its vast powers to go after Trump’s perceived political enemies.

Bondi, who is appearing for a two-day hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, was Trump’s second choice for attorney general.

His first choice, former Florida congressman Matt Gaetz, withdrew amid a backlash over allegations of sexual misconduct and illegal drug use. Gaetz has always denied these allegations. Nonetheless, Republicans, who have shown little enthusiasm for Gaetz, warmly welcomed Bondi after Trump nominated her to the post.

Unlike Gaetz, who had no prosecutorial experience, Bondi worked as a local prosecutor in Florida for nearly two decades before becoming the state’s attorney general from 2011 to 2019.

After leaving office, she served as Trump’s personal attorney during his first Senate impeachment trial. She has also worked as a lobbyist for corporate clients including Amazon and Uber, and has lobbied on behalf of the government of Qatar.

Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee, praised Bondi’s record as a prosecutor and called her well-qualified to lead the Justice Department.

“Bondi is ready to refocus the Justice Department’s attention where it should be: on enforcing the law and protecting the safety of Americans,” Grassley said.

If confirmed, Bondi will lead the Justice Department and exercise the sweeping powers that come with it. She will be responsible for enforcing federal laws, including voting and civil rights laws, as well as defending Trump administration policies in court.

The attorney general position is one of the most important in any administration, but is seen as having particular importance during Trump’s second term because of his tumultuous relationship with the department in the past.

“The prosecutors will be prosecuted”

Much of Trump’s first presidency took place in the shadow of Justice Department special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into possible ties between Trump’s 2016 campaign and Russia .

After leaving office, Trump faced four criminal prosecutions, including two federal cases brought by special counsel Jack Smith relating to Trump’s handling of classified documents and his efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

Trump was not charged in the Mueller investigation, and none of the Smith cases ever went to trial.

Still, Trump has claimed that the Justice Department is a weapon against him, and during the 2024 campaign he has repeatedly spoken of seeking revenge against his perceived political enemies, including within the department.

Bondi has echoed this view in some of his own public statements.

“The Department of Justice, the prosecutors will be prosecuted. The bad guys,” she said on Fox News in 2023. “The investigators will be investigated because the deep state, the last mandate of the President Trump, was hiding in the shadows but now the spotlight is on them and they can all be investigated.”

Those kinds of comments fueled Democrats’ concerns that Bondi would use the department’s prosecutorial powers to pursue Trump’s stated desire for revenge.

“The president-elect has made clear that he values ​​one thing above all else in an attorney general: loyalty,” Sen. Dick Durbin, the Judiciary Committee’s top Democrat, said earlier this week. “I have no reason to believe that President-elect Trump has changed his litmus test for attorney general or his views on how the Justice Department should operate. In fact, I fear he has found someone who can pass his loyalty test.”

Bondi has not spoken about how she would approach the attorney general position since announcing her nomination, but during her meeting with Grassley in December, she said she would “do my best every day to work tirelessly for the American people.”

Several of Trump’s personal lawyers are candidates for top jobs

If confirmed, Bondi would come into office with deep ties to the Trump world. She spoke on his behalf at the 2016 Republican National Convention and publicly pushed false claims of voter fraud in the 2020 election. Most recently, she led the legal arm of the America First Policy Institute, a group of reflection led by former members of the first Trump administration.

Bondi is not the only former Trump personal attorney to be tapped for a high-level position at the Justice Department.

Todd Blanche and Emil Bove, who represented Trump in state and federal courts, were tapped for deputy attorney general and another senior position, respectively, while former Missouri solicitor general Dean John Sauer, who represented Trump before the Supreme Court, was chosen. as solicitor general of the new administration.