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Mr. Gaetz has consistently denied the allegations of sexual misconduct and drug use, but his prospective nomination ran into trouble in the Senate.
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Donald Trump has tapped a new loyalist to head the Department of Justice, former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, who served on his defense team during his first impeachment trial and now works at the Trump-aligned America First Policy Institute. Bondi previously dropped a probe into Trump University in 2013 after Trump's family foundation donated $25,000 to her campaign. This comes after Trump's first pick, former Florida Congressmember Matt Gaetz, withdrew from consideration Thursday amid a firestorm over allegations of sex trafficking involving a 17-year-old girl. "In Pam Bondi, Donald Trump has just the person he really wants: someone who will be a lapdog when it comes to wrongdoing by those people he likes and wants to insulate and protect, and a vicious attack dog for anybody Donald Trump wants to seek revenge against," says Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist David Cay Johnston, who has covered Trump for decades.
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In Ms. Bondi, who served on his legal team during his first impeachment, the president-elect turned to a loyal ally to put his stamp on a Justice Department that he sees as hostile to him.
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Senators stressed that police had investigated a 2017 allegation that Pete Hegseth, Trump's pick for defense secretary, had drugged and sexually assaulted a woman at a California political conference and declined to press charges.
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