Could Pam Bondi Replace U.S Attorney General Jeff Sessions?

TAMPA, FL -- Hillsborough County native and outgoing Florida State Attorney Pam Bondi is reportedly on a shortlist of candidates being considered to replace fired Attorney General Jeff Sessions, according to reports by both CNN and ABC.

A longtime Trump ally, Bondi is leaving her post as Florida's top cop in January due to term limits. Political analysts say this puts her in an ideal position to step in as U.S. Attorney General.

Trump fired Sessions on Nov. 7 without naming a replacement. Instead, he appointed Matthew Whitaker, Sessions' chief of staff, to serve as acting U.S. Attorney General.

Sessions had been walking a tightrope since March 2017 when he recused himself from the probe investigating Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and possible collusion by members of the Trump campaign.

As a result, Sessions' deputy attorney general, Rod Rosenstein, appointed Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller to oversee the probe in May 2017.

The tension between Trump and Sessions came to a head last week with Trump tweeting that Sessions was out of a job (see related story).

The announcement came at a critical time in Trump's presidency. In the general election on Nov. 6, Democrats took control of the U.S. House of Representatives, giving them control of key committees now investigating the Russian probe.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, who is expected to be elected House Speaker when the new Congress begins business in January, said in a tweet it is "impossible to read Attorney General Sessions' firing as anything other than another blatant attempt" by Trump to undermine and end Mueller's investigation.

Sessions' firing has Democrats around the country calling foul and, in some cities, including Tampa and St. Petersburg, prompting organized protests over the weekend.

But with Sessions out, Trump has a chance to nominate an attorney general who can take control of Mueller's probe.

It's unclear if that person could be Bondi. She's reportedly being considered for the AG's spot along with Whitaker, former New York City and Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Republican South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, Republican Texas Congressman John Ratcliffe, former U.S. Attorney General William Barr, Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta, Solicitor General Noel Francisco, former Judge John Michael Luttig, Judge Edith Jones, former Judge Janice Rogers Brown and retiring South Carolina U.S. Rep. Trey Gowdy.

Bondi has been publicly critical of Mueller, calling for his team to be dissolved during a Fox News interview with Sean Hannity in late 2017, saying the investigation smacked of partisan politics.

"[Mueller’s team] needs to be dissolved, and they need to be investigated,” she told Hannity. “This team needs to be wiped out."

Bondi's spokesman, Whitney Ray, won't confirm if Bondi is being considered for the post.

"As the attorney general has repeatedly said, she has not yet made a decision as to what she will do next," he said.

White House counsel Kellyanne Conway is tight-lipped as well.

"There are many people in contention for that position just because there are many qualified people who would like to do it," she said during a press conference Nov. 8.

Trump can take his time naming a replacement for Sessions. Under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act, Whitaker can serve as acting attorney general for 210 days.

A fourth-generation Floridian, Bondi, 52, was raised in Temple Terrace and graduated from King High School.

After 18 years as a prosecutor, Bondi was elected Florida's first female attorney general in 2010.

During the past eight years, she cemented her reputation as a tough prosecutor by going after so-called Florida pill mills distributing oxycodone. Of the top 100 oxycodone dispensers in the country, 98 were in Florida.

She then made Florida a national model in the battle against the highly addictive and often lethal synthetic opioids. Her work earned her an appointment to the President's Opioid and Drug Abuse Commission.

She also serves as the chairwoman of Florida’s Statewide Human Trafficking Council, obtained more than $700 million in settlements and judgments through her Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, participated in a multistate national mortgage suit over mortgage servicing and foreclosure practices and worked to secure $3.25 billion in recovery costs following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010.

Pundits say the major hurdle to Bondi being confirmed as the U.S. Attorney General is the controversy surrounding a $25,000 contribution her political action committee accepted from Trump's foundation during her 2014 re-election campaign.

At the time, Bondi's office was reviewing fraud allegations into Trump University. Democrats claimed the contribution played a role in Bondi declining to pursue an investigation into the Trump University complaints. However, a Florida ethics panel cleared her of any wrongdoing last year.

Images via Pam Bondi Twitter

(For more local news from Florida, click here to sign up for real-time news alerts and newsletters from Patch. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app; download the free Patch Android app here.)