A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
President-elect Donald Trump's controversial pick for attorney general is officially out of the running.
MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Trump started the day yesterday with former representative Matt Gaetz as his nominee to become the next attorney general. By the time the day was over, Gaetz was out and Trump had a new nominee - former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi.
MARTÍNEZ: NPR justice correspondent Ryan Lucas is following all of this. So, Ryan, who is Pam Bondi?
RYAN LUCAS, BYLINE: Well, to start with, she's a former attorney general for the State of Florida, the first woman to hold that position. She served in that job for about eight years. And her office, during that time, unsuccessfully challenged the Affordable Care Act, among other actions that she took. Before that, she worked for nearly two decades as a local prosecutor in Florida. In a statement in which Trump announced his decision, the president-elect said that as a prosecutor, Bondi was very tough on violent criminals. And as a state attorney general, he says that she worked to stop the flow of deadly drugs into Florida. Trump has known Bondi for years. He says she's smart, she's tough and that she will focus the Justice Department on fighting crime.
MARTÍNEZ: Now, Michel mentioned that Bondi is replacing Matt Gaetz. Walk us through what happened with Gaetz's nomination.
LUCAS: Well, look, Gaetz was a huge surprise when Trump picked him, and it was clear from the outset that he was going to face a difficult climb to confirmation. The reasons were pretty clear. He'd been the subject of a federal sex trafficking investigation - one that ended without charges, it has to be said. But also, the House Ethics Committee was investigating him over allegations of sexual misconduct and illicit drug use. Gaetz has denied any wrongdoing, but all of that baggage was put front and center the minute that Trump picked him for attorney general. Gaetz said in a statement yesterday that it was clear to him that his confirmation was, as he put it, unfairly becoming a distraction to the Trump-Vance transition. He said there wasn't any time to waste on what he called a drawn-out fight over his confirmation, and so he withdrew his name from consideration for attorney general.
MARTÍNEZ: You mentioned that Trump has known Bondi for years. What do we know about their history?
LUCAS: They have known each other for years. In fact, they faced questions over a political donation that Trump made to support Bondi's reelection campaign when she was Florida attorney general, and a decision that her office made not to pursue legal action against Trump University. They have denied there was anything improper with that. But Bondi has long been a supporter of Trump. She spoke at the 2016 Republican National Convention when Trump was running for president then. She was an attorney on Trump's legal team during his first impeachment trial. She now leads the legal arm of the America First Policy Institute. That's a right-wing think tank that's led by some former Trump administration staffers. So Bondi is very much a Trump supporter and someone who's very much rooted in Trump world.
MARTÍNEZ: All right. So assuming Bondi is confirmed, how important could she be to Trump's second-term agenda?
LUCAS: Well, look, this is a really big, really important job. It's an important job in every administration because the attorney general is in charge of the 100,000-plus people who work for the Justice Department. The job oversees the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration. The attorney general prosecutes federal crimes. They enforce civil rights laws. They play a big role in national security. They, at root, are responsible for upholding the rule of law. But Trump and his team, we know, view attorney general as one of the most important jobs in his incoming administration. In part, that's because Trump had a rocky relationship with the Justice Department in his first term. But it's also because Trump has claimed that the Justice Department was weaponized against him. And during the campaign, he repeatedly talked about seeking vengeance against his perceived political enemies, including folks at the Justice Department. And so a big question for Bondi, if she's confirmed, is whether she will use the powers of the Justice Department to pursue Trump's stated desire for retribution.
MARTÍNEZ: That's NPR's justice correspondent, Ryan Lucas. Ryan, thanks.
LUCAS: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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