President Donald Trump said he’s on the brink of bringing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis into the White House to be the nation’s top law enforcement post.
DeSantis’ campaign to land the job has been anything but subtle.
Trump told New York Post’s Miranda Devine on Tuesday that the Florida governor remains the top candidate to become the next attorney general of the United States, while stopping short of total commitment.
“People thought of different names. There are some good names,” Trump said when asked about a permanent replacement for Pam Bondi, who was fired in April. DeSantis is “a governor and doing a very good job,” Trump said, but didn’t take him off the list.
Trump also claimed DeSantis “has not asked for the job” despite what Axios reported in April.
Insiders say DeSantis has been quietly lobbying the president for a position in his administration since Trump axed Bondi. Trump himself reportedly told confidants: “Ron was begging me to be AG.”
The two men met at Trump’s National Doral Golf Club in Miami on April 12, where DeSantis reportedly made his pitch in person.
Trump’s White House advisors are divided on whether appointing DeSantis would be wise.
“There’s a big reason the president wouldn’t pick Ron to be his attorney general,” one Trump advisor told Axios. “There’s a way-too-high chance he would try to f**k the president over.”
Still, DeSantis’s resume for the role is difficult to dismiss. He earned his law degree from Harvard, holds a second law degree from Yale, and served six years as a Judge Advocate General in the Navy.
He went on to represent Florida’s 6th Congressional District before becoming governor. Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL), who is running to succeed DeSantis as governor with Trump’s endorsement, told conservative host Benny Johnson last month that DeSantis “will make a very good attorney general” and would “look through everything with a fine-tooth comb to hold people accountable.”
The two former Republican rivals buried the hatchet after DeSantis dropped out of the 2024 Republican presidential primary and immediately endorsed Trump, and have since grown close.
DeSantis’ second term as Florida governor end on January 5, 2027, which would conveniently coincide with a Senate confirmation timeline if Trump nominates him this fall before the midterms.
Todd Blanche, Trump’s former personal defense attorney who served as Deputy AG under Bondi, has been filling the role on an acting basis since April. Under federal law, an acting AG can serve up to 210 days before the administration must nominate a permanent replacement.
Other names still circulating for the post include EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, conservative attorney Alina Habba, and Missouri Sen. Eric Schmitt.
The clock is ticking. Republicans face a challenging midterm environment and are at risk of losing Senate seats that could make future confirmation battles more difficult. Whoever Trump picks will need to thread the needle in a closely divided Senate.