WASHINGTON – Donald Trump’s decide to steer the Justice Division, Pam Bondi, is about to face questions on Capitol Hill on Wednesday over her loyalty to the Republican president-elect, who has vowed to make use of the company to pursue revenge on his perceived political enemies.
The previous Florida lawyer common and company lobbyist can be one of the intently scrutinized members of Trump’s Cupboard if she’s confirmed to steer the division that prosecuted the as soon as and future president in two separate legal circumstances that by no means went to trial.
Here is what to learn about Bondi forward of her affirmation listening to:
___
She’s a detailed Trump ally and long-time defender
Bondi has been a fixture in Trump’s orbit for years, and a daily defender of the president-elect on information applications amid his authorized woes. She’s more likely to face many questions over her public statements criticizing the legal circumstances in opposition to Trump, given his threats to hunt retribution in opposition to these he believes have wronged him.
“The Division of Justice, the prosecutors shall be prosecuted — the unhealthy ones,” Bondi mentioned in a 2023 Fox Information look. “The investigators shall be investigated.”
Bondi mentioned members of the so-called deep state have been “hiding within the shadows” throughout Trump’s first time period, “however now they’ve a highlight on them, they usually can all be investigated.”
Bondi traveled to New York final Could to assist Trump in courtroom whereas he stood trial in his hush cash legal case. Trump was sentenced final week to no punishment in that case after his jury conviction on 34 felony counts.
After Trump’s responsible verdict in that case, Bondi mentioned throughout another Fox News appearance — alongside Trump’s decide for FBI director, Kash Patel — that “an amazing quantity of belief is misplaced within the justice system tonight.” She added: “The American folks see by means of it.”
On a radio present final August, she in contrast particular counsel Jack Smith to “a rabid canine” after he introduced a brand new 2020 election interference indictment in opposition to Trump within the wake of the Supreme Court’s immunity ruling. Smith abandoned that case — and the separate classified documents case — after Trump’s November victory, citing Justice Division policy not to prosecute sitting presidents.
Florida’s first feminine lawyer common
Bondi was first elected Florida lawyer common in 2010, defeating Democratic state Sen. Dan Gelber after incomes the endorsement of former Republican Alaska governor and vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin.
As Florida lawyer common, Bondi led a problem introduced by greater than two dozen states to President Barack Obama’s well being care overhaul. The U.S. Supreme Courtroom finally upheld the well being care legislation. Bondi additionally fought to uphold Florida’s ban on same-sex marriage — arguing that marriage ought to be outlined by every state.
Certainly one of her high priorities as lawyer common was going after so-called tablet mills, or clinics that hand out massive quantities of prescription painkillers and helped gasoline the nation’s opioid disaster.
Bondi faced an ethics probe after she personally solicited a 2013 political contribution from Trump as her workplace was weighing whether or not to hitch New York in suing over fraud allegations involving Trump University.
Trump cut a $25,000 check to a political committee supporting Bondi from his household’s charitable basis, in violation of authorized prohibitions in opposition to charities supporting partisan political actions. After the verify got here in, Bondi’s workplace nixed suing Trump’s firm for fraud, citing inadequate grounds to proceed.
Each Trump and Bondi denied wrongdoing, the state’s ethics commission tossed the complaints and a prosecutor assigned by then-GOP Gov. Rick Scott decided there was insufficient evidence to support bribery charges over the donation.
Earlier than changing into Florida lawyer common, Bondi spent 18 years within the Hillsborough County State Legal professional’s Workplace, prosecuting circumstances “starting from home violence to capital homicide,” based on her bio at Ballard Companions, the lobbying agency she joined in 2019. Among the many circumstances she dealt with was the 2006 prosecution of baseball star Dwight Gooden, who was despatched to jail for violating his probation by utilizing cocaine.
She spent years lobbying on behalf of firms reminiscent of Amazon
Democrats are more likely to press Bondi on her years as a lobbyist and the potential conflicts of curiosity posed by her work for companies and different entities that might face scrutiny by the Justice Division.
Data present that between 2019 and 2024, Bondi was registered to symbolize 30 shoppers, together with companies reminiscent of Uber and Amazon throughout her time at Ballard Companions, a lobbying agency headed by Brian Ballard, who has ties to Trump, based on advocacy group Public Citizen.
She led Ballard Companions’ company regulatory compliance observe, which focuses on serving to Fortune 500 firms “implement finest practices that proactively handle public coverage challenges reminiscent of human trafficking, opioid abuse and private knowledge privateness,” based on her Ballard Companions bio.
She registered as a international agent for the federal government of Qatar for work associated to anti-human-trafficking efforts main as much as the World Cup, held in 2022. She additionally represented the KGL Funding Firm KSCC, a Kuwaiti agency also referred to as KGLI. The agency paid Ballard $300,000 in 2019 to foyer the White Home, Nationwide Safety Council, State Division and Congress on immigration coverage, human rights and financial sanctions points.
Past her lobbying work, she additionally served as chair of the Heart for Litigation and co-chair for the Heart for Regulation and Justice on the America First Coverage Institute, a suppose tank arrange by former Trump administration staffers to put the groundwork for his potential second time period. Her work in that function included filing a brief in the Supreme Court in assist of a public highschool soccer coach who was fired for praying on the sector after video games.
She was a part of Trump’s first impeachment trial protection group
Bondi stepped away from lobbying in 2020 to defend Trump throughout his first impeachment trial in opposition to allegations that Trump abused the ability of his workplace when he pressured Ukraine’s president throughout a telephone name to analyze then-presidential candidate Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden, forward of the 2020 election.
Trump, who denied any wrongdoing, was impeached within the U.S. Home of Representatives and acquitted in the U.S. Senate.
Bondi was introduced on to bolster the White Home’s messaging and communications. Trump and his allies sought to delegitimize the impeachment from the beginning, aiming to brush off the entire thing as a farce.
Bondi backed Trump’s effort to problem the 2020 election outcomes
Bondi supported Trump’s efforts to problem his 2020 loss to Biden, touring within the days after the election to Pennsylvania, the place she claimed the marketing campaign had proof of “dishonest.”
Bondi appeared at a press convention in Philadelphia the day after the 2020 election alongside then-Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani. The previous New York Metropolis mayor has since misplaced his legislation license in New York and Washington, D.C., after pursuing false claims that Trump made about his election loss.
On the press convention, Giuliani instructed that bogus ballots might be flooding in from “Mars” or close by Camden, New Jersey — or, he mentioned: “Joe Biden might have voted 50 instances, so far as we all know, or 5,000 instances.” Bondi mentioned ballot staff in Philadelphia have been protecting Republican ballot watchers too far again and stopping them from doing their jobs.
“We’ve gained Pennsylvania and we wish each vote to be counted in a good approach,” Bondi mentioned.
The following day during an appearance on Fox & Friends, Bondi declared there was “proof of dishonest.”
“We aren’t going anyplace till they declare that we gained Pennsylvania,” Bondi mentioned, alleging there have been “faux ballots coming in late.” However when the anchor pressed her once more on these “faux ballots,” she responded: “There might be — that is the issue…We do not know.”
Bondi went on to say that ballots have been “dumped,” and that “folks have been receiving ballots that have been useless.”
There isn’t any proof of widespread voter fraud that modified the end result of the 2020 election.
Copyright 2025 The Related Press. All rights reserved. This materials is probably not revealed, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed with out permission.
