While DeSantis had said earlier he would appoint Uthmeier to succeed former Attorney General Ashley Moody, he made it official during a brief ceremony at the Old Capitol. DeSantis last month appointed Moody to the U.S. Senate, after Marco Rubio was picked by President Donald Trump to become U.S. secretary of state.

Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday named his former chief of staff, James Uthmeier as Florida’s attorney general, handing the state’s top law enforcement role to a trusted aide who has helped orchestrate and defend some of his most divisive initiatives.

Justice Meredith Sasso swore in James Uthmeier as Attorney General in Tallahassee Monday. The state’s new “top cop” was sworn in on a Bible and offered onlookers at the Old Capitol Building in Tallahassee insight into how scripture informs his view of the law.