If anything, Ms. Bondi’s résumé most resembles that of Janet Reno, who spent 15 years as the state attorney for Miami-Dade County (called Dade County at the time) before serving as the U.S. attorney general from 1993 to 2001. That’s not to suggest Ms. Bondi is the next Ms. Reno. During her tenure, Ms. Reno emerged as the most fiercely independent attorney general of the modern era, often to the consternation of the president who had appointed her, Bill Clinton, and the Washington, D.C., power structure.
Ms. Bondi has a history of fierce loyalty to Mr. Trump. She represented him at his first impeachment trial, in 2020. And she has long supported him politically; in a 2016 speech at the Republican National Convention, she gushed about Mr. Trump and, when the crowd began chanting “lock her up” about Hillary Clinton, said, “I love that.”
In 2013, Ms. Bondi solicited and accepted a $25,000 donation from Mr. Trump’s foundation to a political action committee supporting her political prospects; around the same time, as Florida’s attorney general, she elected not to open a formal investigation of Trump University, which had garnered several complaints from Ms. Bondi’s constituents.
Ms. Bondi’s prior relationship with Mr. Trump is relevant but not disqualifying or even historically unusual. Before his confirmation as the U.S. attorney general in 2005, Alberto Gonzales had served as an adviser and White House counsel to George W. Bush. Edwin Meese had worked for Ronald Reagan before he became the attorney general in 1985. Jimmy Carter nominated his childhood friend, Griffin Bell, to the top job at the Justice Department. John F. Kennedy appointed his own brother.
But, more than prior presidents, Mr. Trump has made clear that he expects unwavering devotion from his appointees. And the attorney general more than other cabinet members must at times exercise independence from the president, particularly with respect to criminal charging decisions. The question, then, is whether Ms. Bondi can do that as the attorney general, despite her prior work with and around Mr. Trump, or whether she will enable his worst instincts.
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