Trump’s Pick to Take Over the DOJ Wanted to ‘Lock Her Up’
Matt Gaetz will not be Donald Trump’s attorney general, but just because the president-elect isn’t getting his first pick doesn’t mean his priorities for the position have changed.
On Thursday, Gaetz — who reportedly promised Trump he would “start cuttin’ fuckin’ heads” upon his confirmation — withdrew his name from contention when it became clear senators were unlikely to vote for a man accused of paying for sex with a 17-year-old. Pam Bondi, the woman Trump tapped as his replacement hours later, doesn’t have nearly as much scandalous baggage, but she’s made clear she’s willing to help the president-elect exact his revenge fantasies if she’s confirmed.
The legal cases against Trump are clearly top of mind as he has considered who he wants to serve as attorney general. In a Truth Social post announcing Bondi’s nomination, Trump wrote that “for too long, the partisan Department of Justice has been weaponized against me and other Republicans — Not anymore. Pam will refocus the DOJ to its intended purpose of fighting Crime, and Making America Safe Again.”
Bondi has herself supported retaliation against Trump’s political rivals in the past. In 2016, — during Trump’s campaign — she called for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s security clearance to be revoked, and egged on supporters who chanted “lock her up” at the Republican National Convention.
“Lock her up, I love that,” she told the crowd.
Bondi supported Trump’s false claims that the 2020 election had been fraudulently stolen from him, and has repeatedly attacked prosecutors and others who sought to hold him accountable for his efforts to overturn the election. In August 2023, Bondi told Fox News’ Sean Hannity that when Trump returns to power “the Department of Justice, the prosecutors, will be prosecuted.”
“The investigators will be investigated,” she added, “because the deep state — last term for President Trump — they were hiding in the shadows. But now they have a spotlight on them, and they can all be investigated and the house needs to be cleaned out.”
Trump named Bondi as his new attorney general nominee within hours of Gaetz’s recusal. The first woman ever to serve as Florida’s attorney general, she’s known Trump for over a decade, and notably served as a member of his defense team during his first impeachment trial. She accused Joe Biden of corruption during the proceedings.
Her relationship with Trump also caused controversy during her time as Florida’s attorney general. In 2013, Bondi defended receiving a large campaign donation from Trump despite her office weighing the prosecution of nearly two dozen fraud complaints against Trump University. Within weeks of receiving the $25,000 donation, Bondi declined to join a multi-state lawsuit against the fraudulent Trump enterprise.
Birds of a feather roost together, and though Bondi may not have been Trump’s first choice, the two Floridians seem aligned in believing that the weaponization of the Justice Department is only a bad thing if it’s weaponized against Republicans. .
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