Attorney General Pam Bondi will formally become part of President Donald Trump‘s anti-drug abuse efforts next week, her office said Friday.
The appointment to the Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis, which requires an executive order, won’t force Bondi to leave office.
“The president always intended for the attorney general to be on the commission,” Bondi spokesman Whitney Ray said in an email. “However, (New Jersey) Gov. (Chris) Christie chose to begin the commission with only himself and four others. The announcement is protocol before the executive order is signed next week.”
The commission, created March 29, is expected to submit a final report of its findings by Oct. 1, unless an extension is needed. Ray said an extension is anticipated. Others on the commission are Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, former U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I., and Harvard Professor Bertha Madras.
Bondi was a member of Trump’s transition team and had been rumored earlier in the year to be headed toward a job in the Trump administration. In January, speculation centered on Bondi as a possible candidate to head the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, a position informally known as the drug czar.
Republished with permission of the News Service of Florida.
