Moment CNN hosts erupt over Trump’s new AG pick Pam Bondi after Gaetz exit – before they’re destroyed on their own show
As CNN panelists argued over the news on live television, Donald Trump’s latest choice to head the Justice Department has caused intense tension on the air.
After Matt Gaetz withdrew his nomination on Thursday, the president-elect selected Pam Bondi, a former attorney general of Florida, to be the next attorney general.
Gaetz resigned, citing the flurry of accusations against the former Florida lawmaker that he had sex with a minor as the reason his nomination was a “distraction” from Trump’s agenda.
Even though he has long disputed the accusations, he resigned, making Bondi the next candidate for the job. However, CNN panelists immediately began questioning Bondi’s suitability for the role.
On CNN’s show on Friday, Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank suggested that choosing a firebrand like Gaetzfirst could have been a calculated move to give Bondi, who questioned the 2020 election results, a more steady appearance.
“I don’t want to attribute any strategy to the president-elect here, but it is kind of genius to put Matt Gaetz out there as sort of a stalking horse, and anybody who put up after that is going to look reasonable,” Milbank stated.
READ MORE ON TRUMP’S PICKS
After calling Trump’s nominees a “vanity project,” he went on to say, “It’s an administration full of loyalists.”
Milbank continued by asserting that none of his cabinet candidates has the necessary background for their new positions.
‘WAIT A MINUTE’
Then Republican strategist Brad Todd intervened, claiming that most presidents select loyalists for cabinet appointments.
Former White House communications director Kate Bedingfield and CNN commentator Kasie Hunt supported Milbank’s inquiry into Bondi’s background.
Then Todd intervened to defend Bondi’s record.
“Wait a minute,” mentioned Todd.
“One of the biggest states in the nation has had Pam Bondi as its attorney general.
Additionally, Florida is involved in multi-state disputes. She has a lengthy history here, for example.
Then Hunt cut her off, claiming that she was talking about Bondi’s personality rather than her own experience.
Todd retorted that GOP senators don’t care about Bondi’s allegiance to Trump.
Donald Trump’s Cabinet Picks
Donald Trump has started to outline his future administration in the days after his resounding election day triumph.
Trump’s confirmed cabinet picks are listed below:
- Susie Wiles – White House Chief of Staff
- Dr. Mehmet Oz – Administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
- Stephen Miller – Deputy Chief of Staff
- Bill McGinley – White House counsel
- Tom Homan, ex-ICE acting director – “Border Czar”
- Elise Stefanik, Republican New York representative – Ambassador to the United Nations
- Lee Zeldin, former New York representative – Environmental Protection Agency administrator
- Marco Rubio, Republican Florida senator – Secretary of State
- Kristi Noem, Republican South Dakota governor – Homeland Security Secretary
- Mike Huckabee, former Arkansas governor – Ambassador to Israel
- John Ratcliffe, former Texas representative – CIA director
- Pete Hegseth, US Army veteran – Secretary of Defense
- Mike Waltz, Republican Florida representative – National Security Advisor
- Steven Witkoff, real estate investor – Middle East envoy
- Elon Musk & Vivek Ramaswamy – Department of Government Efficiency
- Tim Scott, Republican South Carolina senator – Chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee
- Tulsi Gabbard, former Hawaii representative – Director of National Intelligence
- Matt Gaetz, Republican Florida representative – nominated for Attorney General, but later refused the position
- Pam Bondi, Florida Attorney – nominated for Attorney general just hours after Gaetz’s withdrawal
- Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Secretary of Health and Human Services
- Jay Clayton , US Attorney for the Southern District of New York
- Doug Burgum, Republican North Dakota governor – Department of Interior
- Todd Blanche, lawyer – Deputy Attorney General
- Karoline Leavitt – White House Press Secretary
- Chris Wright, oil industry executive – Energy Secretary
- Doug Collins, served in Iraq 2008, former congressman of Georgia’s 9th district from 2013-2021 – Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs
- William McGinley, partner at law firm Holtzman Vogel, former White House Cabinet secretary for Trump – White House Counsel
- Steven Cheung, rapid response director for Trump 2016 campaign – White House Communications Director
- William Owen Scharf , federal prosecutor – Assistant to the President and White House Staff Secretary
- Dean John Sauer, appellate attorney and former Solicitor General of Missouri, lead counsel in Supreme Court for Trump v United States – Solicitor General of the US
- Commissioner Brendan Carr, Former senior Republican on FCC and ex-FFC General Counsel – Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission.
- Linda McMahon: Education Secretary
- Matthew Whitaker, former acting AG, – NATO ambassador
“I think every Republican senator, all 53, expect the attorney general to go to the Department of Justice and make heads roll,” Todd stated.
“I mean, Republicans do not think this agency currently is functioning in a nonpartisan, neutral way, and justice must be neutral.”
He went on, “So I think that absolutely, you hope Pam Bondi goes over there and does what Donald Trump wants, which is to clean house.”
Bondi has been contacted for comment by the U.S. Sun.
REACTIONS TO TRUMP’S PICK
As college lecturer Jason Johnson stated on MSNBC that the former AG is someone to “fear” due to her competency, the panelists clashed about Bondi’s expertise.
Johnson told MSNBC anchor Ari Melber, “We may not share her ideology, but she truly knows how to do this job.”
Therefore, if anyone on the Democratic side or who valued justice or liberty was thinking, “Perhaps Matt Gaetz will mess this up and that will buy us some time,” they should think twice.
“Pam Bondi knows what she is doing.”
A look at Pam Bondi’s career
Pam Bondi, a former attorney general of Florida, has been appointed by Donald Trump to be the next attorney general of the United States.
Bondi served as a prosecutor in the Hillsborough County State Attorney’s Office following his admission to the Florida Bar in 1991.
After receiving the support of former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, she became the first female attorney general of Florida in 2010, making history.
From 2011 to 2019, Bondi was Florida’s top prosecutor.
While still Florida’s attorney general, Bondi co-hosted Fox News’s The Five in August 2018.
Bondi was a lobbyist for Trump-affiliated Florida firm Ballard Partners after leaving his position as state attorney general.
During Trump’s 2020 impeachment trial, she was a member of his legal team.
Lindsey Graham, a Republican senator, was also quick to commend Bondi.
“will be confirmed quickly,” he wrote on X about Bondi.
“Grand slam, touchdown, hole in one, ace, hat trick, slam dunk, Olympic gold medal pick,” he remarked of Trump’s selection.
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Gaetz stated that Trump’s administration will be “far more successful” with Bondi during his appearance on Charlie Kirk’s program on Friday.
Though his political future is uncertain, Gaetz hinted that he will continue to be “in the fight, but it’s going to be from a new perch.”
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