President-elect Donald Trump last week announced the nomination of Florida’s former attorney general, Pam Bondi, to head up the Justice Department, touching off a flurry of speculation as to how Bondi, a longtime prosecutor and close ally of Trump, might lead the department.
Former colleagues who knew her best during her time as a Florida prosecutor, including a Democrat opponent for state attorney general who she later tapped to be her drug czar, described Bondi in a series of interviews as an experienced litigator whose leadership style is more consensus-builder than bridge-burner and whose tenure may generate less friction among rank-and-file career staff at the Justice Department than early critics might fear.
If confirmed, those close to Bondi told Fox News Digital that she will likely espouse many of the same priorities she did in her years as a prosecutor in Florida, primarily in cracking down on drug trafficking, illicit fentanyl imports and in running a Justice Department that enforces fair treatment of both political and career appointees alike.
"From a lawyer's standpoint, this woman knows how to be a lawyer and a trial lawyer," Nicholas Cox, Florida's statewide prosecutor, told Fox News Digital of Bondi's record. "There's just not a question about it."
Here are some of the ways her time in Florida could inform her tenure as attorney general.
Drug crackdown:
In Florida, Bondi quickly earned a reputation for cracking down on opioids and the many "pill mills" operating in the Sunshine State when she was elected as the state's attorney general in 2010. At the time, Florida "was the epicenter of the opioid crisis," Florida statewide prosecutor Nicholas Cox said in an interview.
It was also a hub for so-called drug tourism: Out-of-state residents traveled to Florida from across the country to purchase opioids in bulk, relying on the state's many-house pharmacies, "cash-only" clinics and a lack of statewide prescribing laws to purchase the addictive medications, largely without restriction.
When Bondi took office, opioids were killing around seven people each day, Dave Aronberg, the state attorney for Palm Beach County, who formerly served as Bondi's drug czar, said in an interview.
There were also "more pain clinics than McDonald's locations" in Florida at the time, he said, illustrating the magnitude of the problem.
Aronberg, a Democrat who ran against Bondi for attorney general in 2010 before she appointed him to the post, credits his former boss as being the person "most responsible for ridding the state of Florida of destructive pill mills."
He and others point to Bondi's push for legislation that helped eliminate pill mills in the state, her crackdown on doctors and clinics responsible for prescribing the pain pills en masse, and her work in enforcing Florida's "Statewide Prescription Drug Diversion and Abuse Road Map" to best coordinate federal, state and local efforts as helping end the crisis.
Later, she served in Trump's first presidential term as a member of his Opioid and Drug Abuse Commission.
If confirmed as U.S. attorney general, Bondi has made clear she plans to remain focused on cracking down on illicit drugs—albeit on a national scale.
Bondi's former colleagues told Fox News Digital they expect she will bring the same playbook to Washington—this time with an eye to cracking down on drug trafficking, illicit fentanyl use, and the cartels responsible for smuggling the drugs across the border.
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Working across the aisle:
Bondi has spent years as a prosecutor in Florida, first as a prosecutor in the Hillsborough County State Attorney’s Office before being elected in 2010 as the state's attorney general.
Cox, the Florida state prosecutor, noted that Bondi's career was also heavily shaped by her 18 years working in the Florida District Attorney's Office, a career position that was not informed by politics.
There, the main focus was "cooperation"— a mentality that Cox said extended to "prosecutors, law enforcement, and public defenders, for that matter." "We all worked together and it made for a really strong criminal justice system," Cox said.
"We all worked together, and it made for a really strong criminal justice system," Cox said.
Aronberg echoed this assessment. The state attorney for Palm Beach county had formerly served as a Democrat in the state senate before running for attorney general. He later dropped out endorsed her Democratic opponent.
But afrer her election, Bondi tapped him to be her drug czar— an unorthodox move that Aronberg and others said demonstrates Bondi's commitment to solving problems and working across the aisle on top priorities.
"It really said a lot about her because she got a lot of criticism, withering criticism, from some members of her own party" who were upset she would choose a Democrat for the role, Aronberg said.
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In Florida, Bondi "was not seen as a very partisan person," he added, citing her "strong working relationship with Democrats," which continued even after being sworn in as state attorney general.
"She would support legislation regardless of whether it was supported by Democrats or Republicans," Aronberg said, and in return, she was well-liked across the aisle.
Trump ‘enemies’
In announcing Bondi as his nomination for attorney general, Trump again took aim at the Justice Department, which he characterized as being "weaponized" against him.
"Pam will refocus the DOJ to its intended purpose of fighting Crime, and Making America Safe Again," Trump said in the statement.
But those close to Bondi said they do not think of her as an overly political person, saying they believe the many years she spent as a litigator and state attorney general will help her deftly navigate the unique political pressures in the role, including Trump's calls to go after his so-called "enemies" within the Department of Justice.
Though Bondi herself has echoed calls to "investigate the investigators" involved in the special counsel investigations into Donald Trump, former colleagues said they think she has learned from former Justice Department leaders before her, including former Attorney General Bill Barr and former Special Counsel John Durham, who was tapped by Barr to investigate alleged misconduct in the Trump-Russia probe.
"I’ve told my Democratic friends not to overreact because we have been through this before," Aronberg said, citing the special counsel probe led by Durham.
In the next four years, he said, "I think we will see more of that."
But Aronberg sees a difference between Bondi and others, including Trump's former attorney general nominee, Matt Gaetz.
Bondi "is not going to burn the house down," Aronberg said. "She's not going to manufacture evidence as a way to walk Trump's enemies out in handcuffs."
