Pam Bondi

Pam Bondi (born November 17, 1965, Tampa, Florida, U.S.) is an American lawyer who serves as the U.S. attorney general (2025– ) in the Republican administration of Pres. Donald Trump. Bondi previously made history as the first female attorney general of Florida (2011–19).

Early life

Bondi is one of three children born to Joseph Bondi and Patsy Loretta (née Hammer) Bondi. Her father was a professor who, from 1974 to 1978, also served as mayor of the Tampa suburb of Temple Terrace, and her mother was an elementary school teacher. Pam Bondi studied criminal justice at the University of Florida (B.A., 1987), and in 1990 she received a law degree from Stetson University.

Prosecutor and attorney general

Bondi subsequently became a prosecutor in the state attorney’s office in Hillsborough county, Florida, where she worked for 18 years. Bondi was known for a personable style in the courtroom, which helped her connect with jurors. She also branched out as a legal analyst, often appearing as a guest on Fox News and CNN. In 2010 she ran for state attorney general and was endorsed by former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin. Riding the Tea Party wave, Bondi won the election. She took office the following year, becoming the state’s first female attorney general. She was reelected in 2014.

As attorney general Bondi targeted “pill mills,” clinics that illegally sell prescription drugs, which contributed to the opioid crisis in the United States. She also defended the state’s law banning same-sex marriage, and she led a multistate lawsuit that sought—unsuccessfully—to repeal Pres. Barack Obama’s signature legislation, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). Bondi also developed a reputation for supporting animal welfare, championing a ballot measure banning greyhound racing in the state and shutting down a puppy mill.

Supporting Donald Trump

In the 2016 Republican presidential primary, Bondi initially backed fellow Floridian Jeb Bush, the state’s former governor. But after he dropped out, she endorsed Trump, even though another candidate from the state, Sen. Marco Rubio, was still in the race. Bondi and Trump had something of a history. In 2013, when she was Florida attorney general, she chose not to probe fraud charges against Trump University soon after his family foundation had donated $25,000 to a pro-Bondi political action committee. However, a state ethics panel cleared her of violating any Florida laws. Trump won the 2016 election, and Bondi was a member of his transition team.

Bondi was unable to seek a third term as attorney general of Florida because of term limits, and she left office in 2019. That year she became a corporate lobbyist for Ballard Partners, and her clients included Amazon and Uber. She took a break from that job in 2020 to work as a defense attorney for Trump during his first impeachment trial in the Senate; it ended with his acquittal (see Ukraine scandal). After his loss in the 2020 presidential election to Joe Biden, she backed Trump’s unfounded claims of widespread voter fraud. When a New York City jury convicted the then former president in a hush-money case in 2024, Bondi said during a Fox News interview that “a tremendous amount of trust is lost in the justice system tonight.”

U.S. attorney general

After Trump won the 2024 presidential election, he initially named Rep. Matt Gaetz as his pick for U.S. attorney general. However, Gaetz soon withdrew from consideration in the face of allegations concerning sexual misconduct and drug use. Trump then selected Bondi for the post.

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During her Senate confirmation hearing, Bondi insisted that she would run the Department of Justice (DOJ) free from political considerations, declaring, “If I am the attorney general, I will not politicize that office.” But her assurances did little to assuage Democrats, especially when she refused to rule out investigating former DOJ special counsel Jack Smith, who had indicted Trump on various charges. On February 5, 2025, the Senate confirmed Bondi in a mostly party-line vote, 54–46; the only Democratic senator to vote for her was John Fetterman from Pennsylvania. She was sworn in the next day, and during the ceremony she said, “I will restore integrity to the Justice Department, and I will fight violent crime throughout this country and throughout this world, and I will make America safe again.”

Soon after taking office, Bondi released a series of memos that indicated significant changes for the DOJ. One note announced the creation of the Weaponization Working Group, which she said was to end “abuses of the criminal justice process” by law enforcement. In the memo she named several prosecutors who had previously brought charges against Trump. She also announced that the DOJ would stop DEI programs it deems illegal and halt federal funding to sanctuary cities; the term applies to places that limit enforcement of federal immigration laws in order to protect undocumented immigrants. Later in February 2025 the DOJ announced that it was dropping corruption charges against Eric Adams, the mayor of New York City, which is a sanctuary city. The department argued, in part, that the case was limiting Adams’s ability to enforce Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration. The decision sparked a number of federal prosecutors to resign, and critics alleged a quid pro quo.