President-elect Donald Trump announced on Thursday that he intends to nominate former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi to serve as his attorney general, hours after former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) declined the nomination amid increasing scrutiny of allegations of past sexual misconduct and sex trafficking.

Bondi served as Florida’s attorney general from 2011 to 2019 and has been a longtime fixture in Trump’s orbit and the conservative media world, including serving as one of his attorneys in his first impeachment trial and taking a leading role in his efforts to contest the 2020 election results.

Gaetz’s nomination raised red flags in the Jewish community, given his checkered record on antisemitism, but Bondi is likely to be received more positively.

In an October 2023 appearance on Newsmax, Bondi expressed concern about antisemitism, particularly on college campuses, and delivered comments that suggest she’ll take an aggressive approach to anti-Israel protests on campuses.

“The thing that’s really the most troubling to me [are] these students in universities in our country, whether they’re here as Americans or if they’re here on student visas, and they’re out there saying ‘I support Hamas.’” Bondi said. “Frankly they need to be taken out of our country or the FBI needs to be interviewing them right away.”

She also called for revoking student visas from non-citizens involved in such activity and reimposing the Trump travel ban targeting several Muslim majority countries.

“It’s truly, truly heartbreaking to see what’s happening to all of our Jewish friends in this country,” Bondi continued, “by really just, I think, a lot of ignorant kids, and students, and people who don’t understand that Hamas equals terrorism.”

In a 2018 Fox News appearance, Bondi also expressed support for the Trump administration’s Israel and Middle East policy and called Israel “our greatest ally in the world.”

Former Rep. Robert Wexler (D-FL), who is Jewish, expressed high praise for Bondi, telling Jewish Insider that “she’s super qualified,” will be “the nicest, kindest attorney general ever” and cares deeply about the Jewish community.

He said that, despite their political differences, “when it comes to the interests of the Jewish community and having an attorney general that will fight for the protection of the Jewish community, we could not do better than Pam Bondi.”

“She is somebody whose heart and soul is sensitive to the interests of the Jewish community,” Wexler said. “I know firsthand that acts of antisemitism pain her. She feels it in her kishkes, the hurt that antisemitism causes, and she will be a vigilant, never-ending fighter to prevent hatred against the Jewish community.”

“I can say that without reservation,” he continued. He said he’s discussed the issue with her many times, including several occasions since Oct. 7.

“There are some people who are cordially empathetic,” Wexler said. “Pam is not one of those. Pam lives and breathes equality and the Jewish community occupies a very close and special place in her heart. That transcends politics.”

He said that Jewish Democrats should “rejoice in her pick… in terms of the interests of the Jewish community.”

Wexler and Bondi are both members of the lobbying firm Ballard Partners.

Bondi was present during a 2017 meeting with state attorneys general, during which then-Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro, now the state’s governor, asked Trump about a series of recent threats and vandalism targeting the Jewish community.

According to Shapiro, Trump condemned the threats but said, “Sometimes it’s the reverse, to make people — or to make others — look bad,” Shapiro told reporters at the time.

Bondi, who was also present for the meeting, said at the time, “I know firsthand President Trump cares deeply about our Jewish community and is extremely upset by these attacks… His daughter, son-in-law and three of his grandchildren are Jewish. We pray these attacks, as well as any potential copycat attacks, cease.”

In 2019, after leaving the AG’s office, Bondi joined Ballard Partners, and registered as a lobbyist for Qatar. Several other Trump administration members have also been found to have close ties to the Qataris.

Bondi is a longtime Trump associate who was floated for positions in Trump’s first administration. In 2017, she was investigated for allegedly taking a bribe from Trump to shutter an investigation into Trump University, but charges were not filed. During the Obama administration, she rose to prominence helping to lead legal challenges to the Affordable Care Act.