Pam Bondi, a staunch defender of Donald Trump, has been nominated as the next Attorney General. Her long-standing support for Trump and extensive lobbying experience are raising concerns about potential conflicts of interest. Bondi will face intense questioning during Senate hearings about her past actions and her commitment to impartiality as the nation's top law enforcement officer.
Peter Charalambous and Alexander MallinPam Bondi has developed a reputation as one of President-elect Donald Trump 's most loyal defenders -- a vocal political and legal advocate who represented Trump during his first impeachment, boosted his efforts to sow doubts about his 2020 election loss, and stood by him during his New York criminal trial.
After more than a decade of defending him, Bondi is now the president-elect's nominee to be the country's top prosecutor and reform the Department of Justice as his nominee for attorney general. The role of the country's top law enforcement officer gives Bondi an opportunity to fulfill Trump's campaign promise to transform the DOJ that has investigated and prosecuted him for the last two years, with Bondi vowing to 'clean house' prosecute members of the so-called 'deep state.' 'When Republicans take back the White House, and we will be back in there in 18 months or less, you know what's going to happen? The Department of Justice, the prosecutors will be prosecuted -- the bad ones -- the investigators will be investigated,' Bondi said on Fox News in 2023. On Wednesday, Bondi will kick off two days of hearings to secure confirmation as the next attorney general, as lawmakers prepare to question her over her extensive legal, political and lobbying background -- and whether her longtime loyalty to Trump will impact her oversight of the nation's top law enforcement agencies. If confirmed, Bondi would lead a Department of Justice staffed at the highest levels by Trump's former defense attorneys and facing a potential morale and resignation crisis by the career prosecutors who carry the bulk of the department's workload. 'For too long, the partisan Department of Justice has been weaponized against me and other Republicans - Not anymore,' Trump wrote in his announcement of Bondi for attorney general. On Wednesday, Bondi will kick off two days of hearings to secure confirmation as the next attorney general.While Bondi lacks any federal prosecutorial experience, she was a county prosecutor in Florida before serving two terms as Florida's attorney general between 2011 and 2019 -- the state's first female AG -- where she fought in court to challenge Obamacare and uphold Florida's constitutional ban on same-sex marriage. In his announcement, Trump touted Bondi's work combating the trafficking of fentanyl and reducing overdose deaths. Bondi's office sued multiple drug manufacturers as well as pharmacy chains Walgreens and CVS for their role in the opioid crisis, alleging the companies worked together to increase the supply and demand for the drugs while downplaying the risk of addiction. Her office claimed that efforts to shut down pill mills led to a 52% decline in oxycodone deaths statewide. Bondi's time as Florida attorney general was not without controversy, garnering criticism for her attempt to delay the execution of a man convicted of murder because of a conflict with a campaign fundraiser. Both Bondi and Trump also attracted criticism during the 2016 race over a $25,000 contribution that the Trump Foundation made in 2013 to a political group backing Bondi's reelection campaign. The contribution came days after New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced a lawsuit against Trump University, which Bondi's office considered joining. The office had received at least 22 complaints regarding Trump University and related entities between 2008 and 2011, according to Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, which filed a complaint that the donation was a violation of rules prohibiting nonprofit foundations from making political donations. One month after the donation, Bondi's office declined to join New York's lawsuit, justifying the decision by noting that Florida consumers would still be compensated if Schneiderman won his lawsuit. Both Trump and Bondi have denied that the donation was related to the lawsuit. The Trump Foundation eventually paid a $2,500 penalty to the IRS for improperly reporting the donation. Trump University and the Trump Foundation were closed following multiple lawsuits, and a judge ordered Trump to pay $2 million for misusing his foundation.After leaving office in 2019, Bondi joined the lobbying firm Ballard Partners the same firm that once employed Trump's chief of staff Susie Wiles where she represented major corporate clients like Amazon, General Motors, Uber and the private prison company the GEO Group, among others. On her Senate questionnaire, Bondi also listed several foreign governments she lobbied on behalf of while at Ballard, including the Dominican Republic, Qatar, Zimbabwe and Kosovo. Senate Democrats have pushed for more information over Bondi's foreign lobbying work to determine any potential conflicts of interest that might surface should she be confirmed as attorney genera
PAM BONDI ATTORNEY GENERAL DONALD TRUMP DOJ DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE LOYALTY FOREIGN LOBBYING CONFLICTS OF INTEREST SENATE HEARINGS REPUBLICANS DEMOCRATS
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