Just before President-elect Donald Trump unveiled his replacement pick for attorney general, legal analyst Lauren Tomlinson predicted he would choose another firebrand figure. Speaking on CNN’s The Situation Room, Tomlinson suggested Trump’s next choice would align closely with his vision of disrupting Washington’s status quo.
“I believe that his next nominee will also be a bomb thrower,” Tomlinson said. “I don’t think he’s going to back off of this at all. He’s going to pick someone who he believes is loyal to his vision, who also believes that they need to shake up Washington and will go out there and do it.”
The announcement followed the collapse of Matt Gaetz’s nomination, which had positioned Trump to select a new candidate for the country’s top law enforcement position. Gaetz, a former Republican congressman known for his combative style, was emblematic of the type of loyalist Trump seeks for his second administration.
Tomlinson explained that Trump’s approach to selecting Cabinet members has shifted significantly since his first term. “That is a very big lesson that he learned in the first administration,” she noted. “He leaned on what he considers the Republican establishment to pick out some of these nominees because he wasn’t expecting to win, right? Then he ended up with a cabinet of people he didn’t trust and didn’t believe was fully executing his vision.”
Trump’s new nominee, Pam Bondi, fits the profile Tomlinson described. Bondi, a staunch Trump ally who represented him during his first impeachment, was announced as his choice for attorney general less than an hour after Tomlinson’s remarks. Her nomination underscores Trump’s intent to install loyalists within the Justice Department, particularly those who share his skepticism of the FBI and broader federal institutions.
Ashley Etienne, former communications director for Vice President Kamala Harris, also weighed in on the implications of Trump’s decision. “The Justice Department has historically operated independently from the White House under both political parties,” Etienne said, adding, “What Trump is going to do is break that tradition and really not only gut out the agency but use it to weaponize it against his own political enemies.”
As Trump continues to build his Cabinet for a second term, the selection of Bondi reinforces a broader strategy to consolidate control and implement his vision of a radically transformed federal government.