bondi, pam ag

no notes 9/16?!

SEE TWO

merri ok

see ballard revolve door

robo sign foreclosures

SEE RETALIATION ENEMIES LIST

damn no prediction on resurface!

impeach def big lie lock hillary up

see justice for all slush fund? trump U bribe

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===

AN 12 24

After Matt Gaetz’s spectacular implosion as Donald Trump’s pick for attorney general, the president-elect has named another Floridian many see as a less controversial choice: Pam Bondi. Once the attorney general for Florida, she’s made a name for herself as a Trump loyalist. Her support for his claims of voter fraud and election interference, most notably for this audience, have been consistent and foreshadow what the Justice Department’s approach to elections could be if she’s confirmed.

*This article was originally published by Votebeat, a nonprofit news organization covering local election administration and voting access.

You might, for example, remember her for her efforts to advance Trump’s allegations of fraud after the 2020 election. She was present at Rudy Giuliani’s infamous Four Seasons Total Landscaping press conference, and insisted in interviews that Trump would have won Pennsylvania but for all the “cheating” in Philadelphia. To that end, she and others went to the state to falsely declare victory while filing pointless lawsuits.

Bondi has been a Trump devotee since before it was cool. She endorsed him in the 2016 primary over fellow Floridian Marco Rubio, and then joined the Trump administration’s transition team. When Trump fired his first attorney general, Jeff Sessions, in 2018, her name was floated for the position before Trump ultimately selected William Barr.

In 2020, she was part of the team who defended Trump when he was first impeached over charges of abuse of power related to Ukraine. She made the rounds on television, defending his actions.

Since 2021, Bondi has been the chair of America First Policy Institute’s (AFPI) Center for Litigation and co-chair of its Center for Law and Justice. While in that role, the center advocated for the overturn of a Biden executive order that expanded voter registration access and waged multiple voting-related battles in state courts across the country.

This history paints a vivid picture of how Bondi would run the Department of Justice, if she is approved by the Senate: exactly how Trump wants her to.

“For too long, the partisan Department of Justice has been weaponized against me and other Republicans – Not anymore,” Trump wrote on TruthSocial when he announced her appointment. “Pam will refocus the DOJ to its intended purpose of fighting Crime, and Making America Safe Again.”

She and Trump appear to share an interest in seeking vengeance against prosecutors who attempted to criminally pursue the former and future president.

“The Department of Justice, the prosecutors will be prosecuted, the bad ones,” Bondi last year after Trump was indicted in Georgia on charges of trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election. “The investigators will be investigated.”

That aligns with Trump’s promise in September to aggressively go after “corrupt election officials” and others if Trump believed they cheated in the 2024 election.

Bondi has not spoken publicly about some other possible Trump DOJ priorities floated by conservatives, such as culling the attorneys in the voting rights division or refocusing that division’s priorities towards investigating voter fraud rather than preventing voter suppression. She’s also said very little about the attacks on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.

So far, it appears Republican lawmakers see Bondi as confirmable and there has been no major pushback to her nomination. But, Trump’s nomination processes have historically been chaotic and full of surprises — and this year is no exception. So who knows what will happen in the next few months. We’ll keep you posted.

Jessica Huseman is Votebeat’s editorial director and is based in Dallas. Contact Jessica at[jhuseman@votebeat.org

Votebeat is a nonprofit news organization covering local election integrity and voting access. Sign up for their newsletters here.

rww 11 24

11/26/2024

Pam Bondi, President-elect Donald Trump’s second pick for U.S. Attorney General, has ties to New Apostolic Reformation dominionists who worked hard to put Trump back in office and believe his election will bring about a spiritual “great awakening” that will help like-minded right-wing Christians take control of the “seven mountains” of influence in America—government, business, education, media, arts and entertainment, religion, and family.

After Bondi left office as Florida’s Attorney General, she joined the America First Policy Institute, a think tank created by former staffers that, like the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, has been laying the groundwork for a “revolutionary” plan to “seize control” and dismantle the “administrative state” -- federal agencies charged with protecting American workers, consumers, and communities from corporate wrongdoing.

This year, AFPI partnered with dominionist Lance Wallnau’s Courage Tour, which mixed religious revival with Christian nationalist politics and pro-Trump political organizing. Wallnau celebrated the announcement of Bondi’s nomination as a “great pick,” noting, “She’s part of the America First Policy Institute, a great group I had the privilege of working with in the last year.”

Reflecting the MAGA movement’s increasingly aggressive Christian nationalist orientation, AFPI claims scriptural foundations for every aspect of its right-wing policy agenda, which it has called “10 Pillars for Restoring a Nation Under God.”

In 2022, Bondi co-authored a Daily Caller op-ed with Trump spiritual warrior Paula White, who denounces Trump’s political opponents as demonic. The two wrote about the case of public high school football coach Joe Kennedy, who was fired after refusing to stop leading players in prayer at the 50-yard line after games. The Supreme Court’s MAGA justices ultimately used the case to further weaken church-state separation.

As Florida Attorney General, Bondi tried to weaken church-state separation in the state. She advocated for a proposed constitutional amendment that would strip language in the state constitution that declares, “No revenue of the state … shall ever be taken from the public treasury … in aid of any church, sect, or religious denomination or in aid of any sectarian institution." Voters rejected her proposed amendment.

Unless Trump successfully bullies the Senate into abandoning its constitutional role of confirming his nominees, Bondi will likely face questions about her role as Trump’s personal attorney as well as her decision not to formally investigate Trump University’s fraudulent operations after asking for and receiving a $25,000 donation to her PAC, which was sent illegally from a Trump foundation.

===

MMA

November 25, 2024, edition of Fox News' *The Ingraham Angle

LAURA INGRAHAM (HOST): I'm telling you if the Democrats somehow manage to take the House in 2026, and they could, it is highly probable that they will do everything in their power, stay with me here, to impeach Donald Trump again. You think I'm kidding? Well, we'll see.

And if Democrats win in 2028, I mean, they are just going to resume the case that we're talking about tonight. And they will probably try to go after Vance as well and anyone else connected to Trump. This is why the DOJ has to be cleaned out.

I think Pam Bondi can do it. The Democrats and their never-Trump poodles have done enormous damage to these institutions. And they will do it all again. They do not care. There should be, however, consequences where appropriate, so that this never happens again.

3 of Trump's top cabinet-level picks recently worked as ...}:

Business Insider

https://www.businessinsider.com › Politics](https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-lobbyists-ties-wiles-bondi-duffy-ballard-2024-11)

5 days ago — Incoming White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, attorney general nominee Pam Bondi, and Transportation secretary nominee Sean Duffy have all ...

several of Donald Trump's top picks have recently been lobbyists.
Susan Wiles, Trump's incoming chief of staff, maintained ties to a lobbying firm until this month.
Sean Duffy, Trump's pick for Transportation secretary, has lobbied for a group of major airlines.

President-elect Donald Trump is set to rely on a trio of former lobbyists to help implement his agenda to shake up Washington.

Incoming White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, attorney general nominee Pam Bondi, and Transportation secretary nominee Sean Duffy have all been registered lobbyists. According to disclosure filings, Bondi and Wiles did lobbying work as recently as this year, with Duffy working as a lobbyist into 2023.

Their combined clients range from blue chip companies — including Amazon, GM, and Uber — to insurance giants like MetLife and Fidelity National Financial. Wiles and Bondi were also separately registered to lobby for foreign interests, which included one of Nigeria's largest political parties and the Qatarian embassy.

Wiles and Bondi have both once worked for Ballard Partners, once a regional firm in Florida that exploded in popularity due to its ties to Trump world. Earlier this summer, the firm opened an office in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

"Part of why you hired Ballard Partners over the last few years is knowing that if Trump is president, the people you are working with stand at having a pretty good chance at having influence in a Trump administration," Jeff Hauser, executive director of the Revolving Door Project, a public interest group, told Business Insider.

Brian Ballard, a major Republican fundraiser and founder of the firm, did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

Wiles continued to have K-Street ties as she helped run Trump's campaign.

Wiles, according to The New York Times, did not cut ties to her most recent firm until Trump announced his intention to have her lead his second White House.

Her past work included an effort to get the Trump administration to approve a cooper and gold mine in a sensitive area of Alaska. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, an Alaska Republican, widely viewed as a key vote in the narrowly divided US Senate, and other top state officials have long opposed the Pebble Partnership. The EPA, under Obama, Trump, and Biden's administrations, have repeatedly opposed efforts to mine in the bay, home to one of the world's largest salmon fisheries.

Duffy, who if confirmed would oversee the Federal Aviation Administration, lobbied in 2020 for an airline group that includes American, Delta, and United among its members.

Starting not long after he left Congress in 2019, Duffy lobbied for Polaris, a US auto manufacturer known its off-road and recreational vehicles. Former lawmakers are only restricted from lobbying Congress for a year, though they can immediately lobby the rest of the federal government. According to his disclosures, Duffy's work at times included advising the company on how to navigate EV incentives and tariffs.

ProPublica previously reported that Duffy lobbied White House trade adviser Peter Navarro as Polaris sought to win exemptions to tariffs on the parts it was importing. ProPublica found that Polaris' efforts, including use of Duffy, ultimately led the company to get most of what it wanted.

Bondi's work for Amazon was related to trade and tariff policy, according to disclosures. She also lobbied for General Motors, Uber, Fidelity National, Carnival North America, and even Major League Baseball.

Trump didn't start the revolving door, but the swamp could get larger.

Wiles, Bondi, and Duffy's respective work all fits within the larger revolving door narrative that dominates Washington, even as Trump portrays himself as ready to shake up the status quo.

Ron Klain, President Biden's first chief of staff and longtime adviser, was a lobbyist for Fannie Mae in the early 2000s. Steve Ricchetti, another longtime Biden fixture, spent so much time lobbying that top Obama administration officials tried to prevent then-Vice President Biden from hiring him after the 2008 election. His brother Jeff Ricchetti, who remains a registered lobbyist, saw his business boom after Biden won the 2020 election.

President Barack Obama initially received high praise for his limits on hiring lobbyists who had recently lobbied the federal agency they sought to join, though he granted some limited waivers including to a former top lobbyist to Raytheon. Ultimately, Obama was unable to stop the revolving door, as Politico reported in 2015.

Hauser said what stands out about the Trump team so far is their unorthodox approach to the transition, including refusing to sign formal agreements with the current administration which would include ethics guidelines.

While Trump, like Obama and Biden, issued an ethics-related executive order after taking office in 2017, Hauser isn't convinced it will happen again.

"Given the aversion of his transition to the ethics process of the transition, I think it's an open question whether or not he is going to make his appointees sign additional ethics pledges in office this time," Hauser said.

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ab 11 24

Aside from her willingness to help President-elect Donald Trump prosecute his political opponents, Attorney General-designate Pam Bondi is also known for accommodating any potential lawbreakers who write big checks.

In a Wednesday essay, Bloomberg columnist Mary Ellen Klas called attention to Bondi's record as Florida's attorney general, in which she showed a pattern of pulling back on prosecuting campaign donors and prioritizing fundraising over her official duties. Klas also argued that Bondi's "blind allegiance" to President-elect Donald Trump raises "serious credibility issues" that should give senators pause during her confirmation process next year.

"Simply put: Bondi has never demonstrated a commitment to protecting average people, and that’s where the danger lies," Klas wrote.

One example of Bondi's ability to be swayed by campaign cash was in her office's abrupt decision to stop investigating Trump's fraudulent "get rich quick" seminars that he dubbed "Trump University." While the New York Attorney General's Office was investigating claims of fraud in 2013, Bondi hinted that she may join their investigation.

But as watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington explained, that changed after the Trump Foundation made an illegal $25,000 contribution to a PAC backing Bondi's reelection campaign (non-profit organizations are prohibited from making political donations) that she personally solicited. Trump was eventually forced to shut down both his seminar course and his foundation after New York forced him to pay fraud victims $25 million, but he never had to be investigated in Florida. Bondi kept the $25,000, and Trump later threw a private fundraiser for her at Mar-a-Lago.

As Klas described, Trump was "not the only donor to benefit from Bondi’s influence during her eight years as AG." The Bloomberg columnist noted that Bondi "helped developers facing allegations of timeshare fraud, ended her office’s practice of representing consumers when utility companies sought rate increases and shielded banks and lenders during the mortgage foreclosure crisis."

"In one particularly egregious example, Bondi ended an investigation into a company that helped banks and lending firms by concocting false evidence to kick families out of their homes without due process. Two investigators in the previous attorney general’s office had uncovered the wrongdoing and built a case against it but, after Bondi took office in 2011, that all changed," she wrote. "Instead of going after the fraudsters central to Florida’s foreclosure fraud scandal, Bondi’s office went after the investigators. They had stellar job reviews, but were forced to resign.According to journalist David Dayen, executive editor of American Prospect, Bondi received substantial campaign contributions from the firm under investigation."

Click here to read Klas' column in full (subscription required).

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an 11 24

Pam Bondi, who is President-elect Donald Trump's new nominee for attorney general, will have an easier time than former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) in the confirmation process. But Democrats believe she's still in for a tough fight based on several key issues.

The New Republic's Greg Sargent wrote that Bondi's upcoming confirmation hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee early next year will be full of opportunities for Democrats aiming to do maximum damage. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) predicts Trump's pick to lead the Department of Justice will likely be cornered on some of the president-elect's more controversial promises for the Department of Justice and forced into a tough position. And he said Bondi should be forced to acknowledge that she'll be carrying out a deeply unpopular retribution campaign on behalf of Trump, pointing out she would be his "weaponizer-in-chief of the legal system."

Michael Sozan, who is a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, reminded Sargent's readers that Trump's prior attorneys general were driven out of their positions by choosing to prioritize the law over their boss. He predicted that Bondi's tenure could be similarly short-lived if Trump views her as insufficiently loyal.

“Trump turned against all his prior attorneys general when they retained a shred of respect for the rule of law,” Sozan said. “He’s expecting Bondi to be an arsonist. It won’t end well for her. It will be even worse for the American people.”

First, Democrats may seek to drive a wedge between Bondi and Trump by pointing out the president-elect's stated plans to pardon scores of January 6 insurrectionists. These pardons could include rioters who assaulted police officers and carried weapons into the U.S. Capitol building. One unnamed House Democrat said Bondi should be directly asked her thoughts on blanket pardons that could include some of the more violent participants in the Capitol siege.

“What happens if Trump pardons the Proud Boys leaders who were convicted for seditious conspiracy and instigating the violence?” said January 6 report author Tom Joscelyn when commenting on potential questions for Bondi. “What about the dozens of defendants convicted of assaulting cops?”

Additionally, Sargent observed that Bondi could be asked about Trump's stated plans to deploy the DOJ against his political enemies. She may also face questioning about his proposal to deploy the U.S. military on U.S. soil to round up and detain undocumented immigrants (which one Republican senator has already publicly condemned). Senate Democrats could also press her on Trump potentially court-martialing military officials involved in the 2021 withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan. And Bondi could be asked her opinion on Trump's calls to revoke the broadcast licenses of media outlets that criticize him.

"Ask whether she thinks the First Amendment and due process are any impediment to what Trump has called for," Raskin said.

As the former Florida attorney general, Bondi has experience as the top law enforcement official of a populous state, unlike Matt Gaetz, whose scant professional legal experience included a stint at a small Florida law firm. After New York announced it was investigating Trump University for defrauding students, Bondi was set to launch her own investigation before the Trump Foundation made a $25,000 donation to a super PAC backing her candidacy (which is illegal for any non-profit organization).

Gaetz's nomination to lead the DOJ lasted just eight days before he withdrew his name from consideration. His withdrawal notably came after CNN asked him to comment on a new allegation that he reportedly had sex with a 17 year-old high school student at a party while the homeowner watched.

Click here to read Sargent's full article in the New Republic (subscription required).

===:

NO LNX JOE CONASON

:{alternet

How Trump corrupted Pam Bondi

Pam Bondi speaks at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio, U.S. July 20, 2016. REUTERS/Mike Segar/File Photo

Joe ConasonNovember 23, 2024

Newspaper profiles of Pamela Bondi -- subbed in as President-elect Donald Trump's nominee for U.S. attorney general following the scandalous implosion of Matt Gaetz -- often describe her with a phrase like "longtime loyalist."

The former Florida attorney general's unwavering fealty dates back to September 2013, when a political committee supporting her reelection campaign received a $25,000 check from the Trump Foundation. And the story behind that check foreshadows four more years of exceptionally corrupt administration, when the first felon returns to the White House. It is a tale that revolves around two of the most notorious scams pursued by the president-elect during his career as a "successful businessman," namely the Trump Foundation and Trump University.

Rather than an institution of higher learning, Trump U was a for-profit real-estate seminar that promised easy wealth to the suckers who paid huge sums to learn the Donald's investment secrets and received no instruction of any value whatsoever in return. Over the years before Bondi got that Trump check, thousands of defrauded consumers had complained to her office, demanding action.

And just three weeks earlier, then-New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman finally had announced the filing of a massive fraud case on behalf of New Yorkers ripped off by Trump University. According to Tristan Snell, the assistant attorney general handling the case, they hoped Florida would join New York's lawsuit "because it opened up the possibility that, if needed, we could pursue additional witnesses and documents" in the Sunshine State, where subpoenas would require Bondi's assistance.

Evidently that possibility also occurred to someone in the Trump Organization. Four days after the dramatic New York filing, Trump executive assistant Rhona Graff sent an email to the Bondi campaign finance director, seeking details of how to make a donation. Made out to "And Justice For All," the ironically named Bondi PAC, that donation arrived by mail on Sept. 13, 2013, along with a note signed by Trump that misspelled the candidate's name as "Biondi" and declared, "Dear Pam, You are the greatest!"

The check was drawn on the Trump Foundation -- a tax-exempt nonprofit organization prohibited from giving money to political campaigns or partisan committees. That was merely one of many examples of Trump's abuse of his foundation's tax-exempt status.

You may have surmised by this point that the Florida attorney general blew off her New York colleagues in seeking justice for the Trump U victims. Snell recalls that after sending the case documents to Tallahassee, "we never heard from the Florida AG's office again."

None of that hindered the legal team led by Snell -- one of very few officials ever to hold Trump accountable -- from winning a $25 million settlement from the Trump Organization after the 2016 election. The proceeds reimbursed Trump's victims for roughly 80% of what they had lost. Two years after he coughed up that punishing payment, the New York attorney general's office came after the Trump Foundation again, charging that its charitable activities were nonexistent and that its expenditures benefited Trump himself.

In the humiliating conclusion of that lawsuit, his lawyers agreed their client would shut down the foundation and pay the remaining millions in its accounts to bona fide charities.

So egregious were the depredations of Trump U that Republicans felt obliged to condemn its swindling. The National Review ran a scathing investigative report headlined "Yes, Trump University Was a Massive Scam." Sen. Marco Rubio, then a Trump rival, denounced Trump U as a "con job," and warned that "we cannot allow a con artist to become the Republican nominee for president of the United States." (The Florida senator's more recent sycophancy has now earned Rubio the opportunity to become secretary of state.)

Every Republican senator who votes to confirm Bondi as the nation's attorney general knows the saga of Trump University. As Snell sardonically asks, "Did Trump just happen to want to make a donation to Bondi a mere four days after the New York AG's case was filed? Really?"

He goes on to demand that journalists and senators interrogate Bondi about this scandal -- and explore its implications for her integrity, her subservience to the president, and her ability to carry out the attorney general's duties.

"We need to make sure this full story gets told -- and any profile of Bondi or analysis of her nomination that does not include this story is itself another example of corrupt complicity." Nobody, in the mainstream media or the United States Senate, should be able to claim they did not know.

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11 24

Less than 24 hours after former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) withdrew his name from consideration for Attorney General, President-Elect Donald Trump announced Gaetz's replacement for the nomination.

"I am proud to announce former Attorney General of the Great State of Florida, Pam Bondi, as our next Attorney General of the United States," Trump wrote via Truth Social.

A slew of legal experts and journalists quickly reacted to the news, many criticizing the president-elect's choice.

Rochester Institute of Technology law professor David Cay Johnston commented: "Pam Bondi, Trump's new AG pick, is so corrupt. She took an illegal $25,000 campaign donation from the Trump Foundation. Bondi kept the money (!!!), given when -- as Florida AG -- she shut down her office's investigation of the utterly fraudulent Trump University."

Orlando Sentinel columnist Scott Maxwell added: "Hi America. If you want to understand why Donald Trump likes Pam Bondi, know this: Complaints were filed about Trump U. in with attorneys general in two states. - NY's AG pursued and got a $25 million settlement - Trump gave Bondi $25k, and she did nothing."

Journalist Ken Klippenstein wrote: "Trump's new pick for AG, Pam Bondi, was a registered lobbyist for the government of Qatar"

Human Rights Campaign national press secretary Brandon Wolf replied: Two days after my best friends and 47 others were murdered at Pulse Nightclub, Pam Bondi tried to paint herself as a friend to the community. She hoped we’d forget that, just TWO years earlier, she said our freedom to marry would cause 'significant public harm.' We didn’t."

Democratic strategist Ameshia Cross replied: "The same Pam Bodi who let Jeffrey Epstein slide"

Long Island County, New York's Suffolk Young Democrats Chair Skyler Johnson commented: "Trump makes sure to point out that she was the first female Attorney General of Florida. I’m sorry - I thought acknowledging such things was an unforgivable sin, and proof someone was selected because of DEI? Are the rules different now?"

an 11 24

Trump’s latest pick to become Attorney General, former Florida AG Pam Bondi, is a MAGA supporter who vowed last year that if Trump were to return to the White House, the “deep state” would be eliminated from the U.S. Dept. of Justice and the “prosecutors will be prosecuted.”

Trump’s nomination of Bondi comes after his first pick, former U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) was forced to withdraw. Senators on both sides of the aisle made clear Gaetz’s chances for confirmation were slim given investigations into allegations of possible sex with a minor, possible payments for sex, and possible sex-trafficking. He has also been under investigation for possible illicit drug use and questions about possible campaign finance improprieties.

In 2023, Bondi told Fox News host Sean Hannity that “when Republicans take back the White House and we will be back you know what’s gonna happen, the Department of Justice, the prosecutors will be prosecuted, the bad ones.”

“The investigators will be investigated because the deep state last term for President Trump, they were hiding in the shadows,” she claimed. “But now they have a spotlight on them, and they can all be investigated and the house needs to be cleaned out because now we know who most of them are. There’s a record of it and we can clean house next term, and that’s what has to happen.”

On CNN’s “Out Front,” Erin Burnett Thursday evening reported that Bondi has made “it clear she is on the exact same page as Trump when it comes to his claim that the Justice Department has been politicized.”

And she noted that “Bondi has been a very successful fighter for Trump in the 2020 election. She was on the front lines pushing Trump’s election lies. She said, ‘we’ve won Pennsylvania and we want every vote to be counted in a fair way.’ Of course, he did not win Pennsylvania.”

“During Trump’s criminal trial in New York. She was one of his top defenders,” Burnett added.

Rolling Stone on Friday also notes that Bondi has “supported retaliation against Trump’s political rivals in the past. In 2016, — during Trump’s campaign — she called for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s security clearance to be revoked, and egged on supporters who chanted ‘lock her up’ at the Republican National Convention.”

“’Lock her up, I love that,’ she told the crowd.”

ABC News reports that “Bondi registered as a foreign agent for the government of Qatar as part of her lobbying work.”

Donald Trump was prosecuted by Special Counsel Jack Smith in two separate cases. One for his alleged actions surrounding the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol and the insurrection, and his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election he lost. The second was for Trump’s alleged removal, retention, and refusal to return classified and top secret classified documents, including some of the nation’s nuclear and defense secrets.

In a state criminal trial, Trump was convicted for “falsifying New York business records in order to conceal his illegal scheme to corrupt the 2016 election,” according to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

Trump also has been facing prosecution in Georgia for his alleged efforts in that state to overturn the 2020 election. That case is ongoing, according to WMAL.

Trump’s classified documents case, largely prosecuted under the Espionage Act, was dismissed by a federal judge appointed by Trump in 2020 who was confirmed just before he left office.

The Special Counsel is now winding down his work after Trump won the presidential election earlier this month, given sitting presidents cannot be prosecuted, and Trump’s Attorney General would in all likelihood drop the case.

===

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11 23 MMA

....

Right-wing media support instituting a travel ban for all Muslims

- On Hannity, former Trump senior adviser Stephen Miller called to “reintroduce President Trump’s travel ban on jihadist regions” and deport foreign students who he alleged were “expressing support for terrorism” on college campuses. Miller argued, “We should not have sympathizers of Hamas, sympathizers of terrorism, sympathizers of the destruction and death of innocent people attending our universities and becoming part of America.” Fox News, *Hannity*, [10/12/23]
- Anti-Muslim extremist Laura Loomer: “RESTORE THE ISLAMIC TERROR TRAVEL BAN!” Loomer called for the United States to “DEPORT ALL JIHADIS” in order to “MAKE AMERICA SAFE AGAIN!” Twitter/X, [10/28/23]
- On Newsmax, guest and former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi called to “reinstate President Trump’s travel ban immediately” and revoke visas for foreign students who allegedly “support Hamas.” Host Chris Salcedo agreed, decrying immigration from “people who are so antithetical to Western civilization” and seek to “undermine” America. Newsmax, *The Chris Salcedo Show*, [10/23/23]
- On X (formerly Twitter), War Room CFO Grace Chong reposted Steve Bannon’s call to “STOP THE INVASION OF AMERICA” and “REINSTATE TRAVEL BAN” in response to Hamas’ terror attack on Israel. Twitter/X, [10/9/23]
- Fox host Brian Kilmeade expressed support for Trump’s reinstatement of his Muslim ban in a potential second term. While Kilmeade criticized Trump’s application of the 2017 ban, he added that “hopefully he knows how to implement things better now — if he was to become president again.” Fox Business, *Varney & Co.*, [10/17/23]

## Right-wing media denied and downplayed the existence of Islamophobia

- On his Fox News Radio show, Kilmeade claimed that “so-called” Islamophobia “really doesn’t exist.” Kilmeade and guest Dan Senor slammed the Biden administration for creating a national strategy to combat Islamophobia, failing to mention the national strategy to combat antisemitism released by the White House in May. Fox News Radio, *The Brian Kilmeade Show*, [10/24/23; NPR, 5/25/23]
- Outkick co-host Buck Sexton called Islamophobia “a nonsensical term used by cynical people to bully the public.” Co-host and Outkick founder Clay Travis agreed, claiming,“No one is calling for anything of any violent act to be perpetrated against anyone of the Muslim faith at all.” OutKick, *The Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show*, [11/2/23]
- Levin denied a recent surge in Islamophobia and complained about the attention the White House has given to the bigotry. Levin ranted: “I’m sick and tired of this White House, every time they talk about antisemitism, talk about, what is it? Islamic bigotry? Islamophobia. There’s not a 4 or 500% increase in threats against Muslims in this country. What are they talking about? Are there Jews in the street and Christians in the street and other people in the street, really protesting about ‘Get rid of the Muslims, exterminate the Muslims, obliterate the Muslims?’ Tell me, who is that? Does anybody do it? Of course not.” Westwood One, *The Mark Levin Show*, [10/30/23]

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mma 6 23

Fox News has responded to the indictment of former President Donald Trump for withholding classified documents with a swell of demagoguery suggesting this event signals the end of American democracy. But the network is pushing another ridiculous angle: That the indictment was timed to distract from House Republicans’ latest accusations against President Joe Biden and his son Hunter.

The conspiracy theory is obviously baseless. Special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation of Trump has been going on for months, and Fox itself reported two weeks ago that Smith was going to conclude it soon. In order to buy into Fox’s claim that the indictment is a distraction, you would have to believe that the entire process of Smith’s appointment last November and his 7 month long investigation was timed to produce an indictment in June this year, just in time to spoil yet another House Republican attempt to kick up a manufactured scandal against the Biden family.

Fox News is trying to rehash the anti-Biden smear campaign behind Trump’s first impeachment

Fox News has for weeks been hyping up efforts by congressional Republicans to accuse Biden of having received vast sums of money from Ukraine when his son Hunter was on the board of the Ukrainian energy company Burisma. The accusation is a relic of the smear campaign four years ago that led to Trump’s first impeachment, when he attempted to pressure the Ukrainian government into announcing an investigation of Biden in exchange for receiving badly needed military aid to defend itself from Russia. The claims were widely debunked at the time, which did not stop the Murdoch media from ignoring facts their own news desks had reported.

In the latest chapter, members of the House Oversight Committee led by Chairman James Comer (R-KY) on Thursday looked at an FBI document called an FD-1023, containing a tip from a confidential source dating back to 2020, alleging a $5 million payment to Biden during his time as vice president.

Fox’s own reporting describes the tip as coming in June 2020, which was both in the heat of the presidential election and months after Trump’s previous efforts to pin a corruption charge on his opponent via the Ukrainian government. Even then, the source only said that another person claimed they were paying Biden, not that the source had this information directly. (Fox News is now ignoring its own reporting that “the document does not say Joe Biden received any payments,” with hosts speaking of “these $5 million payments” as if they were established facts.)

Trump’s former Attorney General Bill Barr told The Federalist that he sent the information to the U.S. Attorney’s office in Delaware. This would mean the information has been in the possession of the Trump-appointed U.S. Attorney for Delaware, David C. Weiss, whom Biden has not replaced during his term. So, either this Trump-appointed U.S. attorney deemed the tip to not be credible, or Weiss has had the information for up to three years and it could form some component of a probe of Hunter Biden. But either way, House Republicans and right-wing media would have no cause to complain of obstruction by the Biden administration.

NBC News reported that a senior law enforcement official said the FBI and a Trump-appointed U.S. attorney had reviewed the bribery claim in 2020 and determined that it was not substantiated. But on Thursday, House Republicans trumpeted the document as absolute proof that Biden was “100% guilty.”

Biden himself jokingly responded to a reporter Thursday, “Where’s the money?” And indeed, such a scheme would also have to involve some incredible degree of money laundering to hide the funds from his publicly available financial disclosures and decades’ worth of tax returns.

Fox News hosts and “straight news” anchors spread the conspiracy theory

Just as the story broke Thursday night, Fox host Jesse Watters asked, “What does this tell you on the same day we’re learning that the Bidens took $10 million in bribes, supposedly, from Ukraine?” Fox contributor Charlie Hurt:{ responded that Biden had “been asked about it for the first time. So you see this drop on the exact same day. I think that the two are very related.” Fox News, :(style="background-color:#ffffffff"):}:*Jesse Watters Primetime*:{, :(style="background-color:#ffffffff"):}:[6/8/23:{]}:
During her guest-hosting spot in the 8 p.m. hour, Fox News anchor Harris Faulkner alleged: “It’s remarkable that just hours after Republicans made this finding, Biden’s own Justice Department would indict Biden’s leading opponent in 2024. It’s unprecedented.” Fox News, *Fox News Tonight*, [6/8/23]
The theory then got tons of airtime on The Ingraham Angle. New York Post columnist Miranda Devine claimed: “Well, look, Merrick Garland, the attorney general, controls the timing of this and the timing is really outrageous, because it comes right as the FBI has finally been forced by James Comer in the House Oversight Committee to hand over this evidence of Joe Biden receiving a $5 million bribe from Ukraine when he was vice president. This is devastating to the president. It should be devastating. But, of course, they've just brought out this shiny object to make all of the media look over there.” Fox News, *The Ingraham Angle*, [6/8/23]
Fox News contributor Jason Chaffetz chimed in: “I agree with Miranda. I think the timing is such that here James Comer and all the House Republicans and Democrats can go see what’s going on with the allegation from a credible source about Joe Biden. They just happened, hours later, to drop this indictment on President Trump. Do you think that’s a coincidence?” Fox News, *The Ingraham Angle*, [6/8/23]
Host Laura Ingraham kicked off an interview with far-right Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) by offering this sardonic remark: “Congresswoman, so, the reporting would be then, if this were true, that the Burisma scheme is confirmed, then Trump is indicted. I’m sure it’s just a coincidence. This all just happened. It’s sheer coinciden:{ce.” Fox News, :(style="background-color:#ffffffff"):}:*The Ingraham Angle*:{, :(style="background-color:#ffffffff"):}:[6/8/23:{]}:
The conspiracy theories continued into the morning, with former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi claiming that the government was “going after Donald Trump:{, and I don't think it's a coincidence now because of the 1023 that’s out.” (In the same interview, Bondi claimed that the government’s prosecution of Trump was taking resources away from investigating child sex-trafficking.) Fox News, :(style="background-color:#ffffffff"):}:*Fox & Friends*:{, :(style="background-color:#ffffffff"):}:[6/9/23:{]}:
Later in the program, Fox & Friends co-host Ainsley Earhart also asked then-Trump attorney Jim Trusty: “It happened to be on the exact same day that House Oversight Committee got to look at that 1023 form that basically alleges — it’s being told that that’s proof that there was an exchange of $5 million from this oil company in Ukraine in exchange for policy when Joe Biden was vice president. Is that coincidence that this happened on the same day?” (It was announced later Friday that Trusty resigned as Trump’s attorney.) Fox News, *Fox & Friends*, [6/9/23]
During the network’s purported “straight news” programming, Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) claimed, “With the indictment last night that came down on Donald Trump on the day that we looked at evidence of corruption, you know, you’re watching the executive branch trying to take out political enemies because of the accusations against the Biden family.” America’s Newsroom co-anchor Bill Hemmer did not challenge Mace or ask her any further questions on this point:{. Fox News, :(style="background-color:#ffffffff"):}:*America’s Newsroom*:{, :(style="background-color:#ffffffff"):}:[6/9/23:{]}:

Fox’s histrionics are ironic on multiple levels, considering the propaganda network previously championed the cause of locking up the right’s political enemies, argued for a president’s supposed authority to directly order the investigation of a political opponent, and served a major public role in Trump’s effort to subvert American democracy following his defeat in the 2020 presidential election.

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https://www.mediamatters.org/mar-lago-search/right-wing-media-melt-down-after-trump-becomes-first-former-president-be-federally

no lnx vid

Right-wing media melt down after Trump becomes the first former president to be federally indicted

Pundit Tammy Bruce: Trump’s indictment is a “punch in the face” to “not just us, but Washington and Adams and Jefferson and Hamilton and everyone who came after”

WRITTEN BY JACK WINSTANLEY & RUBY SEAVEY

RESEARCH CONTRIBUTIONS FROM ETHAN COLLIER

PUBLISHED 06/09/23

After Donald Trump was indicted in the special counsel investigation into his mishandling of classified materials, right-wing media continued their flailing defenses of the former president by calling the whole investigation “election interference” and bemoaning the supposed end of democracy.

Following a search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home that recovered approximately 13,000 records, special counsel Jack Smith was appointed in November to investigate Trump’s potentially illegal handling of those materials. Nearly a year after the search, Trump was indicted on 37 felony charges, including 31 separate alleged violations of the Espionage Act.

Fox News hosts scrambled to defend the former president and complain about a supposed two-tiered system of justice, continuing to create a false equivalence to President Joe Biden’s supposed mishandling of classified materials.

Over the last year, right-wing media have consistently run defense for Trump as the documents scandal has unfolded, with prominent figures claiming the initial search on Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home was an attack on “the American public” and others calling for otherwise violent responses to the investigation and seizure.

Now, right-wing media figures are using the same playbook. From claiming the indictment is an attempt at election interference to arguing that it is a distraction from Biden’s supposed crimes and an attack on American democracy itself, here is how right-wing media have reacted to the first federal indictment of a former president:

Claim: Trump’s indictment is evidence of a two-tier system of justice and a distraction from Biden’s classified document investigation

Fox News host Jesse Watters claimed that the Biden administration was indicting Trump for something the current president is “probably five times more guilty of.” He said of Biden: “He’s just fallen, he’s been accused of taking bribes from Ukraine, China, and now he’s going to arrest his political opponent? … This does not smell right.”

On Jesse Watters Primetime, Trump attorney Alina Habba dismissed the indictment as a “coordinated dance” to distract from investigations into the Biden administration. She added, “It is so obvious that there is this dual system of justice. This is selective prosecution — selective persecution. It is absolute persecution."

Video CitationFrom the June 8, 2023, edition of Fox News' Jesse Watters Primetime

After former Trump lawyerPam Bondicalled the indictment “weaponization” in the “ultimate sense,” Fox & Friends host Brian Kilmeade scoffed that “evidently they are not investigating anything on Hunter.” Kilmeade went on to evoke other investigations into the Biden administration, adding, “They are not investigating anything on the [FBI] whistleblower with the credibility.”

On Fox & Friends, former acting Attorney GeneralMatthew Whitakerdeclared that he thinks “the Pence case and Biden case actually are more serious,” before claiming that the documents had been declassified: “There is going to be an argument in this case that Donald Trump declassified these documents that he is being accused of illegally possessing.”

On Fox & Friends, The Five co-host Geraldo Rivera suggested that the Bidens were trying to disrupt the Trump campaign, quipping, “You can’t beat him, I believe, on a library book that was overdue.” Co-host Steve Doocy kept the focus on the Bidens, asking, “Because there are the uneven standards between Biden and his documents and the Trump documents, you know, people are going to be talking about, you know, why is it taking four-and-a-half years for the Hunter Biden thing?’”

On America’s Newsroom, anchor Bill Hemmer said, “Two tiers of justice — that is the refrain on behalf of Republicans. This as Donald Trump becomes the first former president indicted by the government that he used to run. Wow.”

On Hannity, Fox News contributor Jonathan Turley suggested that Biden’s team should feel uneasy because “Biden mishandled material for a much longer period in many more locations than did President Trump.”

Claim: The indictment against Trump should be considered election interference, but it could also help him during the 2024 election

The morning after Trump’s indictment, Rivera said he is “very upset” about Trump’s indictment and claimed that “it is an attempt, whether conscious or unconscious, to affect the election of 2024.” Rivera said the indictment won’t “affect his standing — he may still be running for president as an indicted person or even a convicted person —because there is nothing in the Constitution of the United States that bars a person under indictment or even a federal convict from running for president.”

On his daily livestream, Timcast, Tim Pool declared: “The federal indictment by the Biden DOJ is direct election interference. It is subversion of the United States election.” He added, “I don’t see how the United States stands and continues to function when you’ve got the sitting president filing an indictment against his chief rival.”

Conservative pundit Tammy Bruce argued on Hannity that Trump’s indictment is not about Trump, but rather, “it is about indicting and stopping his [Biden’s] main political opponent.” Bruce earlier argued that the FBI’s raid of Trump’s Mar-A-Lago “was obviously meant for television, obviously meant to interfere with this coming election.”

Video file

Video CitationFrom the June 8, 2023, edition of Fox News' Hannity

On Fox News Tonight, Whitaker asserted that “Donald Trump seems to always get stronger when challenged.” He continued: “These types of things that would normally melt an average human being, I think, give him strength, and he continues to fight.”

On Fox’s Hannity, Bondi declared that Trump will be stronger politically because of the indictment: “He believes more than anything this is a dark day for America, what they are doing to him. And as Pete said, if they can do this to him they can do this to anyone. And he will fight like no other human being because he loves our country.”

On Fox’s The Ingraham Angle, Article III Project President Mike Davis baselessly concluded that Trump’s indictment “was a political hit by Biden and Garland to take out Trump for the 2024 presidential election.” Davis then neglected to talk about Trump’s alleged crimes and focused on Hillary Clinton.

On Infowars’ The Alex Jones Show, host Alex Jones absurdly claimed that Trump’s indictment is “the assassination of Kennedy 2.0”: “They're assassinating him criminally and politically and taking your right to vote for who you want. Proof they stole the 2020 election. They're doing it now upfront because the landslide is gonna be so huge.

Jones calls Trump indictment "Assassination of Kennedy 2.0"

JUNE 9, 2023

Kennedy Assassination 2.0

Audio file

CitationFrom the June 9, 2023, edition of Infowars' The Alex Jones Show

Claim: Trump’s indictment signals the end of American democracy as we know it

Former Trump senior adviser Stephen Miller joined Fox News Tonight, claiming: “History will record today as the day that we ceased to be a democratic republic and we became a people ruled by an unelected government bureaucracy.”

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am oversight

raga roldf robo calls?

RECORDS REQUEST TO FLORIDA ATTORNEY GENERAL SEEKING RECORDS FROM RAGA’S ONLINE PORTAL

Records request to the Florida Office of the Attorney General seeking documents, posts, or comments from the Republican Attorneys General Association’s online portal, Briefing Room, concerning, created by, or interacted with by Attorney General Ashley Moody or former Attorney General Pam Bondi.

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ref no lnx

https://www.thedailybeast.com/even-donald-trump-cant-make-sense-of-his-own-dark-money-maze

[Pay Dirt is a weekly foray into the pigpen of political funding. Subscribe here to get it in your inbox every Thursday.

An inquiry from the feds has thrown new light on the murky relationships between a dozen Trump-aligned groups. And the problem traces back, as do so many other problems in Trumpworld, to a familiar name: former top aide Corey Lewandowski.

When Lewandowski got himself fired from a pro-Trump super PAC last fall—after allegedly sexually assaulting a big donor—the group brought in aclean-up crew. When Lewandowski refused to step down, they opened up a new super PAC without him.

That super PAC—the preposterously titled “Make America Great Again, Again!”—was the 12th in a sprawling labyrinth of political groups and nonprofitsthat comprise the Trump fundraising network. And in terms of the incestuous confusion, it may have been the one that finally tipped the scales; federal election officials now want to know why some of the super PAC’s payments aren’t being properly reported.

[Trump’s Dark-Money Machine Gets a Makeover—and New Owners

BILL OF GOODS

Roger Sollenberger]

Brendan Fischer, deputy executive director of good government group Documented, said the extent of Trump’s network is unparalleled.

“It is worth emphasizing: All of this is totally unprecedented for a former president,” Fischer told The Daily Beast. “Even if Trump kept it simple, and just had one hard money PAC, a single super PAC, and a pair of 501(c)(3)/501(c)(4) nonprofits, there would be no parallel with any former president in American history.”

Anyone who’s taken even the quickest of peeks at Trump’s personal financial disclosures would recognize the pattern.

His first such disclosure revealed positions with more than 500 entities, nearly 400 of which used his name or initials.And Trump has “organized” the mess in a stultifying Russian-nesting-doll structure—companies within companies within companies. Frequently, one company will be held under multiple Trump companies at the same time, each with stakes in still other Trump companies.

This isn’t an accident. The structure gave the Trump Organization an enormous amount of financial flexibility, while making it difficult to follow the billions of dollars that Trump, his family, and his accountants move across the organization.

When Trump hauled his private life into politics, he brought this practice with him, too.

The full Trump-aligned apparatus counts a dozen separate political committees and dark money organizations. Almost all of them share one of three names.

Here they are:

Make America Great Again PAC (converted from the old Trump campaign)

Make America Great Again Action (super PAC)

Make America Great Again, Again!(super PAC)

Trump Make America Great Again (small-dollar joint fundraising committee)

Make America Great Again Policies Inc (a 501(c)(4) nonprofit)

America First Policy Institute (a 501(c)(3) nonprofit)

America First Works (formerly America First Policies; a 501(c)(4) nonprofit)

America First Legal Foundation (a 501(c)(3) nonprofit)

America First Action (super PAC)

Save America (leadership PAC)

Save America JFC (joint fundraising committee)

Trump Victory (high-dollar joint fundraising committee)

“Typically, former presidents focus on their presidential library, or start a charitable foundation, but Trump is staying in the political game and raising a staggering amount of cash,” Fischer said.

It is staggering.

Want a closer look inside the pockets of the government’s most powerful players? Subscribe to the Pay Dirt newsletter here for exclusive reporting every Thursday.

For instance, the Trump-endorsed America First Action super PAC pulled in nearly $200 million between 2017 and 2020. Its sister nonprofit, America First Works—formerly America First Policies—posted $51.3 million in revenue for 2020, doling out nearly $40 million in grants.

[Dark-Money Group Paid Former Trump AG to Ask for Pardons

BEG YOUR PARDON

Roger Sollenberger]

The TMAGA PAC raised $884 million for 2020, with Trump Victory tossing in another $336.3 million. Those guns mostly fell quiet last year, while Trump’s three new PACs built up a $124.4 million stash, with another $12.5 million in the MAGAA! super PAC.

And we won’t know how much those other dark money nonprofits raised in 2021, or what they did with it, until after the midterms.

As Trump and the Republican Party gear up for 2024, these groups are in various stages of repair. However, that also appears to have created some internal problems. In fact, according to a filing on Wednesday, even the Trump campaign admits it isn’t always able to follow its own money.

Fischer chalked up the mess to a few factors, including Trump’s will-he-or-won’t-he candidate status, his relationship with the Republican National Committee, and disarray among his associates.

But Brett Kappel, a specialist in campaign finance and nonprofit law at Harmon Curran, perceived something more designed.

“The central lesson of Watergate is ‘Follow the money,’” Kappel told The Daily Beast. “And this byzantine structure of different types of legal entities—which are subject to different fundraising restrictions and file different reports with different agencies according to different filing schedules—appears to be designed to make that task as difficult as possible.”

To illustrate, these organizations can be divided into two groups: PACs and joint fundraising committees, and “dark money” nonprofits.

The PACS and joint fundraising committees are Trump’s political organizations. They disclose their finances to the Federal Election Commission. But they don’t all follow the same filing schedule, and, depending on what kind of committee they actually are, they can raise and transfer different amounts of money from different types of people and organizations.

[The GOP Dark Money Group Giving Big to White Supremacists

UNWORTHY CAUSES

Roger Sollenberger]

Of these groups, Save America leadership PAC is currently Trump’s main squeeze. Most of the money he raises goes there.The Save America JFC is a joint committee that splits donations between Save America and MAGA PAC, which used to be the Trump campaign. Weirdly, MAGA PAC doesn’t get much out of this joint arrangement—more than 90 percent of every contribution goes to the Save America PAC.

And the super PACs are, as mentioned above, something of a mess.

As for the “dark money” nonprofits,unlike the PACs, these groups file with the IRS. They don’t have to disclose their donors at all (hence “dark money”). They also only file once a year, and because those deadlines are so late,it can take nearly two years for a transaction to become visible to the public.

The IRS restricts their activities, too. Some groups have leeway to be political (the 501(c)(4) groups). Some must focus on social welfare (the 501(c)(3) groups). The Trump network has a healthy helping of both.

Sometimes, however, these PACs and nonprofits canoverlap, even sharing employees and office space, like America First Action and America First Policies did during the Trump administration.[shuffle?]

And while they appear to be giving that another go, as the FEC found, it hasn’t been so clean this time.

Enter Lewandowski.

After Trump left the White House, the industriously sycophantic Lewandowski wormed his way back into his graces, winning the right to run the Make America Great Again Action super PAC. At the same time, he quietly created a Florida nonprofit, Make America Great Again Policies Inc.

But MAGA Policies didn’t appear to do anything—at all. There has been no reporting on any actual activity since it was created. Zero. It is a black box.

Then Lewandowski reportedly sexually assaulted a Trump donor and got himself booted from orbit. More experienced hands took over the new MAGAA! super PAC, led by former Florida attorney general Pam Bondi, and that also got complicated.

[Trump PAC Lavishing $37K a Month on Trump Tower Rent: WaPo

DONATIONS WELL SPENT

According to a new corporate filing in Florida, Bondi—who also happens to lead the massive America First Policy Institute nonprofit—also took over Lewandowski’s mysterious MAGA Policies nonprofit, adding former Trump administration officials Ric Grenelland Matt Whitaker, as well as Donald Trump Jr. paramour Kimberly Guilfoyle. All of those people are also on the new super PAC’s payroll.

But here’s the rub: The super PAC hasn’t been paying them directly. The nonprofit has, as part of a “cost share agreement.”

On Tuesday, the FEC sent the super PAC a letter saying that’s not cutting it. The group needs to explain exactly what they mean by “cost share agreement,” the letter said, because what they provided is not adequate.

Kappel said the FEC may be trying to figure out whether the two groups are “financially and operationally independent.” If the super PAC was found to be “connected” to the MAGA Policies nonprofit, he said, that meansit can only raise money from people tied to the nonprofit—and not from the general public. That would be a death blow, and the group would be forced to reorganize itself yet again.

Fischer said he wouldn’t be surprised to see more groups strategically shut down, like Trump Victory began doing last year.

“It might be more straightforward for Trump to shut down MAGA PAC,” he said, though he pointed out that MAGA PAC appears to own the campaign’s valuable supporter data, which might make it more cost-effective to retain for joint fundraising efforts.

But, Fischer pointed out, even though the constellation of Trump-aligned groups is basically unnavigable, it always could have been worse.

“Recall that Brad Parscale also started the ‘American Greatness’ super PAC in 2021, which never really got off the ground,” he said.

---

After news broke that Corey Lewandowski was accused by a major donor of stalking, sexual harassment, and sexual assault, Trump world moved to fire the longtime advisor to the former president, but they ran into a problem. Lewandowski, who headed the official Trump Super PAC, was one of just two board members, and was not about to vote to fire himself.

As The Daily Beast reports, Lewandowski tried to get himself a massive severance package, saying he would go quietly if he was paid off – to the tune of several hundred thousand dollars. The Beast reveals after Lewandowski's "ignominious dismissal during Trump's first run—also prompted by accusations of assaulting a woman, Lewandowski netted a massive $20,000 a month package that gave him nearly half a million dollars to walk away.

Not this time.

Trump reportedly "scoffed" at the idea of paying off Lewandowski. Even though the super PAC had about $200 million in its coffers, the "twice-impeached ex-president didn't want to see Lewandowski slinking away with any of that money—which Trump views as his money, despite the patina of distance that is legally required between candidates and super PACs."

Lewandowski's request was refused, and Trump's advisors simply created a new Super PAC, this one headed by former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi.

"Instead of grappling with the notoriously belligerent operative, however, his MAGA Action colleagues simply abandoned him. Within days of Lewandowski's firing they'd spun up a new super PAC, with a strikingly familiar name: Make America Great Again, Again! A pointed press statement on Monday declared the new group 'the ONLY Trump-approved super PAC,' making no mention of the wayward former leader by name."

Trashelle Odom, the woman who accused Lewandowski, had "claimed in a statement to Politico that Lewandowski had made a series of unwanted advances over the course of the evening, grabbing her buttocks and one of her legs, boasting about his genitalia, speaking to her lewdly, and flashing his room key. The Odoms reportedly asked the super PAC to refund their $100,000 if the group did not sever its ties with Lewandowski."

Lewandowski, according to The Beast, has made a lot of enemies in Trump World, including Sam Nunberg,a former Trump advisor who at times has been a frequent guest on several MSNBC shows.

"I remember the day I was fired from Trump's 2016 campaign, and I got calls from reporters saying they'd just spoken to Corey Lewandowski," Nunberg told The Beaast. "This, even after I was told that my termination was going to be done quietly. This is someone who is a power-hungry, talentless, amoral psychopath who hit the jackpot with Donald J. Trump… He's a piece of trash."

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no lnx

Travis Gettys and Raw Story August 26, 2021

Newly revealed records show Donald Trump likely broke the law by issuing a campaign donation to the Florida attorney general investigating his fraudulent university.

The Trump Foundation issued a $25,000 check in 2013 personally signed by the real estate mogul and reality TV star to a political action committee associated with Pam Bondi's re-election campaign, and The Daily Beast obtained new records that dispute Trump Organization denials made when the donation became an issue during the 2016 campaign.

"It kind of blows up their whole story," said Jordan Libowitz, communications director for Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. "The Trump Organization staffers knew they were making this political donation. There are no questions about it. There is no ambiguity."

Libowitiz, whose watchdog group filed the complaint that exposed the scandal, called the evidence "a smoking gun," and the records show Trump Organization employees were explicitly told the donation was made to a political group -- which goes against claims made by chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg, campaign officials and Trump Foundation executives.

"I probably didn't know at that time that we probably shouldn't be using foundation funds for this type of thing," said Trump Organization accountant Jeff McConney during a 2017 interview with investigators from the New York attorney general's office. "We made a mistake."

But an email from Aug. 28, 2013, shows Bondi's campaign finance director Deborah Ramsey Aleksander provided the name and federal tax identification number for the "And Justice for All" PAC, which she described as an ECO, or "electioneering communications organization, to Trump's longtime executive assistant Rhona Graff.

"Again, it was a pleasure meeting you today!!! Thanks again for always being so responsive and wonderful to work with." Aleksander wrote to Graff. "Let Mr. Trump know that we are SO VERY thankful for his commitment of 25k and If he wants to make it 50k, that's perfectly acceptable. :) Seriously, thanks again for everything!!!"

Aleksander provided Graff with a copy of the PAC's W-9 form, which lists the group's "federal tax classification" as a "political organization," in a follow-up email on Sept. 11, 2013, and two days later Trump himself sent Bondi a check with a signed letter that misspelled her name and told her "you are the greatest!"

:{:{}:

The signed check was issued from The Donald J. Trump Foundation, Inc., in likely violation of Section 501(c)(3) of U.S. tax code, which prohibits political donations by tax-exempt charities.

The Trump Foundation was eventually dissolved after the New York attorney general's office found a "shocking pattern of illegality" and the Trump Organization and Weisselberg were indicted this summer for criminal tax fraud, while Bondi, who reportedly tried to return the donation after it was revealed, never did investigate Trump University, which settled three fraud lawsuits for $25 million in November 2016.

Bondi joined Trump's impeachment defense team shortly after leaving office in 2019.

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trump adviser Pam Bondi falters under pressure from Fox & Friends on ‘fake ballot’ claims

Travis Gettys Raw Story

Pam Bondi wilted under light pressure from a "Fox & Friends" host to substantiate her claims of voter fraud in Pennsylvania.

The former Florida attorney general, who's now an adviser to President Donald Trump's campaign, argued that ballots arriving after the Nov. 3 election should be rejected as "fake," despite a Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling that said those ballots should be counted unless there was evidence they were mailed after Election Day.

"We love democracy and we all want every legal vote...

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https://www.alternet.org/2020/09/transparent-political-ploy-florida-attorney-general-asks-fbi-to-investigate-bloombergs-efforts-to-restore-felon-voting-rights/

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Bloomberg raises $16 million to pay fines of 32,000 former felons so they can vote again in Florida: report Alex Hend

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no lnx

How Jared Kushner wrestled control of Trump pardon process away from Bill Barr’s DOJ: report

Written by Travis Gettys / Raw Story February 20, 2020

President Donald Trump has taken the pardon process away from the Justice Department and given more direct control to son-in-law Jared Kushner and former Florida attorney general Pam Bondi.

The president granted clemency Tuesday to a group of 11 political allies, Fox News regulars and others, and he has put together an informal task force overseen by Kushner to recommend and vet new candidates, reported the Washington Post.

The group has been meeting since late last year, after Kushner recommended taking away control of the process away from the Department of Justice.

One official told the newspaper that Trump was unconcerned about criticism of this week’s pardon spree, and said more pardons would be coming before November’s election.

“He likes doing them,” the official said.

https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/not-her-first-cover-up-trump-impeachment-defense-adviser-pam-bondi/

third in a series examining the backgrounds of the legal team defending President Donald Trump in his impeachment trial.

The impeachment trial isn’t the first time that former Florida Attorney General Pamela Jo Bondi has heard allegations of criminal behavior surrounding Donald Trump and chosen to look the other way.

Bondi, who is currently serving on President Trump’s impeachment defense team as a special adviser to the president during Trump’s trial in the U.S. Senate, served as Florida’s attorney general from 2011 to 2019, the first woman to do so in the Sunshine State. Before joining Trump’s impeachment defense team, Bondi was working at Ballard Partners, a lobbying firm that brags about its close ties to the president. Mother Jones reported that Bondi helped Ballard Partners “lobby the White House for clients including General Motors, Major League Baseball, and the Government of Qatar.”

In recent years, Bondi has faced renewed scrutiny over a complaint of bribery, which centered on an illegal $25,000 campaign contribution Bondi solicited from Trump in 2013 for her reelection effort “near the same time that Bondi’s office was being asked about a New York investigation of alleged fraud at Trump University,” according to the Associated Press. Bondi has denied the allegations of bribery and said that Trump was on a list of “friends and family” from which she asked for money.

The complaints against Bondi were eventually dismissed by state prosecutors in 2017, although the thoroughness of the state attorney’s office was questioned at the time. Columnist Scott Maxwell wrote in the Orlando Sentinel in 2017 that it did not appear prosecutors spoke to any witnesses before dropping the complaints, and it seemed that the state attorney’s office ignored key evidence related to the case.

In the memo dismissing the case, Amira Fox, then the chief assistant state attorney, said that the complaint against Bondi was “insufficient on its face to conduct a criminal investigation” and that “the majority of the complaint consists of insinuation without any material evidence in support.” Bondi, cleared of any wrongdoing, later endorsed Amira Fox when she ran for state attorney.

Bondi was a steadfast ally of Trump in Florida in the run-up to the 2016 presidential election, leading chants of “Lock Her Up” during her speech at the Republican National Convention where Trump was officially nominated. In 2018, Trump said he “would consider Pam Bondi for anything” and that he would “love to have her in the administration.” On Jan. 21, Bondi took part in the Trump impeachment trial as a member of the White House defense team.

Bondi’s job is to attempt to persuade the public to overlook the allegations in Trump’s impeachment, but those efforts have not come without notable blunders.

In a November interview with CBS, Bondi was asked whether President Trump knew U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland, who offered damning testimony during the House’s impeachment inquiry, and Bondi launched a defense of Trump in which she repeatedly misstated Sondland’s job title, inaccurately referring to Sondland as the “ambassador to the Ukraine.”

More recently, last Tuesday, Bondi stood at the podium in the U.S. Senate and berated House Democrats for the way they conducted their impeachment inquiry into Trump.

“We are here tonight because they threw due process, fundamental fairness, and our constitution out the window in the House proceedings. That’s why we’re here,” Bondi said. She added, “Intel and Judiciary Committees was a one-sided circus.”

Ironically, Bondi used her only opportunity to speak on the floor of the Senate during the impeachment trial to attack the rules that Republicans outlined and Trump’s legal team argued for.

Bondi has had better luck gaining traction on Fox News, which has largely attempted as a network to downplay and ignore the impeachment. On Saturday night, Bondi appeared on “Justice with Judge Jeanine” and said that the impeachment trial was “an insult to the American people” and that legislators “have not charged the president with any crime because the president did nothing wrong.” Bondi said the articles of impeachment against Trump were “basic trash” and said the whistleblower who set in motion the inquiry against Trump was an “informant” and “leaker.” Fox News has hosted members of Trump’s impeachment defense team more than 350 times in the past year, according to Media Matters.

As Florida’s attorney general in 2013, Bondi postponed an execution of a prisoner because it conflicted with a reelection fundraiser she was hosting, the Tampa Bay Times reported. In 2014, South Florida Sun Sentinel reported that Bondi was defensive of her stance that same-sex marriage should be banned in Florida, which led a local LGBTQ outlet to dub her “Bondi the Bigot.”

Tags: Donald Trump Pam Bondi Impeachment

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an 120

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Trump team titans spotlight: Former Florida AG Pam Bondi can grift with the best of them

Written by Christopher Brauchli / Common Dreams January 26, 2020

Birds of a feather will gather together.

— Robert Burton, The Author’s Abstract

A man is known by the company he keeps. The make-up of Team Trump is known, and as this is written, the trial is under way and by the time it sees the light of day, may already be over. Nonetheless, is not too late to admire one of the almost members of the Trump defense team, two of the well-known members and draw attention to one member who has been sadly overlooked. It is not that she has not had as illustrious a career as her colleagues. It is just that it is slightly less newsworthy.

The almost member of the defense team is, of course, Rudy Giuliani. He has gone around the world at great personal sacrifice in order to advance the Trump interests by getting dirt on the Bidens, and getting rid of Marie Yovanovitch, the former U.S. Ambassador to the Ukraine.

In all those efforts he has been single minded, always bearing the interests of the Trump foremost in his mind. Nonetheless, on a personal level, Rudy wanted nothing more than to have his name and face forever implanted on the impeachment proceedings by being a highly visible part of the defense team. Although he had, in the past, made history by being the only New York mayor to announce at a press conference, that he was divorcing his wife, an announcement that was as much news to her as to the rest of the world, that feat would not have held a candle, when his obituary is written, to having been a part of the team that was defending a man who was not only the most corrupt but also the dumbest president to have ever lived in the White House. Rudy really wanted to ride into posterity on the back of the Trump. It was not to be.

Among others, the defense team includes Alan Dershowitz and Ken Starr. Alan is an excellent choice since he was one of the lawyers who enabled the billionaire pedophile and good friend, Jeffrey Epstein, to avoid prison time for his now famous sexual escapades. Epstein had faced multiple counts of soliciting and trafficking underage girls in Florida, but thanks to the able defense of Alan and others, he was sentenced to 13 months of house arrest. Alan was assisted in that highly successful effort by another member of the Trump team, Ken Starr. Following his participation in the Epstein case, Ken went on to still more illustrious achievements. In 2011 he was named president of Baylor University and in 2016 he was kicked out for failing to respond appropriately to reports that football players at Baptist Baylor University had been convicted of sexual assaults.

Being among such successful defenders and enablers of men accused of sexual criminal activities, it is no surprise that she would go unnoticed. It’s not fair. She is just as exemplary as they—I refer to Pam Bondi.

Pam was the former attorney general for the state of Florida. When she was running for reelection to that post in 2013, she accepted a $25,000 check for her campaign from the Donald J. Trump Charitable Foundation. (On December 19, 2019 a suit against the foundation for using its money for, among other things, political purposes to further the Trump’s presidential pursuit, was settled.)

Following receipt of the gift from the foundation, Pam made the carefully considered decision not to sue Trump University on behalf of Florida citizens who claimed the university had swindled them.

Among her many notable Trump-like activities, Pam was active in taking steps to make it more difficult for voting rights to be restored to Florida ex-felons, repeatedly appealed federal court rulings against same-sex marriage bans until the U.S. Supreme Court definitively invalidated such prohibitions, and joined a lawsuit opposing the clean-up of the Chesapeake Bay, a bay that is several hundred miles from Tallahassee.

Another notable act occurred when she was running for reelection as attorney general for the state of Florida. Marshall Lee Gore had been sentenced to death in Florida following his conviction for a vicious murder and rape. His execution was twice postponed but finally scheduled for September 10, 2014. It turned out that was the date that Pam, who was running for re-election, had scheduled her “hometown campaign kickoff” at her South Tampa home. Understandably, she did not want an execution to take away from the excitement of her day. Accordingly, she asked the governor’s office to postpone the execution. Her request was granted. Mr. Scott was put to death October 1, 2014. Ms. Bondi’s fundraiser went off without a hitch. She was reelected to a second term as attorney general of Florida the following month.

Pam is a great addition to the Trump defense team. She will have no trouble fitting in. Trump, if no one else, should be grateful for her participation.

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120 2 on AN

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Trump’s legal team is a wretched hive of scum and villainy

Official White House Photo by D. Myles Cullen

Written by Martin Longman / Washington Monthly January 17, 2020

From time immemorial, port cities have been “wretched hives of scum and villainy,” so why should spaceports be any different? That was the theory behind Mos Eisley, home of the famous bar scene in the original Star Wars. And why should Trump’s International Hotel in Washington, D.C. be any different? It’s a gathering place for every kind of crook and scoundrel. As Lev Parnas told Rachel Maddow, “It was like a breeding ground at the Trump hotel.”

And why should Trump’s legal defense team not follow suit?

President Donald Trump’s defense team for his Senate impeachment trial will include former independent counsel Ken Starr, who investigated President Bill Clinton, and famed defense attorney Alan Dershowitz, sources familiar with the president’s legal strategy told NBC News Friday.

Also joining the team is Robert Ray, who succeeded Starr as Clinton special counsel, and Pam Bondi, the former Florida attorney general who joined the White House in November to help manage the messaging around impeachment, the sources said.

Villainy may be in the eye of the beholder, but the stench of scum is hard to ignore.

Kenneth Starr is a completely disgraced man, after bringing Baylor University into total disrepute:

Starr was ousted as president of Baylor University and then resigned as chancellor in 2016 amid an investigation into claims he and school officials mishandled allegations of sexual assault by football players.

An independent investigation found that under Starr’s leadership the school actively discouraged “some complainants from reporting or participating in student conduct processes and in one instance constituted retaliation against a complainant for reporting sexual assault.”

Dershowitz has been credibly accused of taking advantage of the services of Jeffrey Epstein’s underage sex slavery empire.

“I kept my underwear on during the massage… I don’t like massages particularly.”

— Alan Dershowitz, via Skype, trying to explain why he was in an alleged sex trafficker’s house but was only massaged by an “old, old Russian woman” and had no clue what was going on in the rest of the house. Dershowitz also said: “Were there young women in another part of the house giving massages when I wasn’t around? I have no idea of that.”

Bondi is a poster girl for public corruption. Further, the worst of the accusations against her actually involves the person she’s supposed to defend in the impeachment trial.

Bondi was serving as Florida’s attorney general when allegations began to arise that Trump University was a fraud. On the one hand, she publicly said she’d look into it. On the other, she privately asked Trump to fund her reelection campaign. Trump obliged, illegally using his charitable organization to do it. Bondi promptly dropped the investigation into Trump University, and both parties defended the whole arrangement. Then they denied it had been an arrangement at all, with Trump claiming that he had actually donated the money to another organization with a similar name. But that organization never received any money, and Trump was fined by the IRS and his charitable organization was shut down.

More recently, Bondi has used her access to the president to rake in money from Qatar as a lobbyist. She also appears to disturbingly tight with the Scientologists.

Then there is Robert Ray. He’s another piece of work.

The former federal prosecutor who succeeded Kenneth W. Starr as independent counsel in the Whitewater investigation has been charged with stalking his ex-girlfriend, police said.

Robert W. Ray surrendered to police Thursday. He was ordered to appear in court at a later date and released, police said.

A complaint filed by Ray’s ex-girlfriend says he e-mailed, called and visited her against her wishes after their relationship ended.

There are many possible ways to respond to Trump’s choice of defenders.

Monica Lewinsky

@MonicaLewinsky

this is definitely an “are you fucking kidding me?” kinda day.

As far as I know, Bondi has never been closely associated with sexual misconduct or assault, but I think she’d fit in at the Star Wars cantina just fine. As it is, her lobbying firm regularly sends its clients to Trump’s D.C. hotel.

Maybe these are the only people who are morally compromised enough to see some advantage in arguing for the president’s innocence, but I hope the House Managers remember to bring their lightsabers to the proceedings.

Speaking of which, maybe Ponda Baba was an innocent victim and Obi-Wan Kenobi was wrong to cut off his hand. I’m sure Alan Dershowitz would be willing to make that argument.

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wASHINGTON (AP) — An agent of the Qataris. Lobbying for a Kuwaiti firm. A decision to steer clear of a lawsuit against Trump University.

As she prepares to defend President Donald Trump against impeachment and accusations that he pressured a foreign government to aid his reelection campaign, former Florida state Attorney General Pam Bondi is stepping down from a lobbying firm where she represented foreign interests.

The White House announced this week that Bondi is one of two new staffers who will join the White House on a temporary basis to bolster its messaging and communications in response to the impeachment inquiry,which is unfolding at a rapid pace. Next week, the House Intelligence Committee will begin holding public hearings with witnesses as they build their case. The inquiry centers on whether Trump abused his office by withholding military aid and other support to pressure Ukraine to investigate his political rivals.

Trump wanted Ukraine’s president to publicly commit to investigating Hunter Biden, the son of former Vice President Joe Biden who served on the board of a Ukrainian gas company. He pushed for the investigation while holding up nearly $400 million in military aid.

Helping craft the White House response to the impeachment inquiry will be Bondi, a longtime Trump supporter who stepped down as Florida’s attorney general in January. Since then, Bondi has worked as a lobbyist forBallard Partners, a Washington firm that has touted its influence inside the Trump administration. Her U.S. clients have included General Motors, the commissioner of Major League Baseball and a Christian anti-human-trafficking advocacy group.

Bondi also registered as a foreign agent for the government of Qatar and as a lobbyist for a Kuwaiti firm with a massive Defense Department contract,according to Justice Department foreign agent filings and congressional lobbying documents. Her work with the Qataris was related to anti-human-trafficking efforts leading up to the World Cup, a person familiar with the efforts said.

Bondi is now winding up her work for Ballard Partners, White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham told The Associated Press. Despite Bondi’s recent work for foreign and domestic interests, Grisham said those ties would not pose any ethics concerns.

“There is no prohibition in the (U.S. government) Ethics Pledge or ethics regulations that would prevent a former lobbyist orformer foreign agentfrom taking an employee position,” Grisham said.

Bondi would have to recuse herself from any matters involving Ballard or other former employers of “matters on which they lobbied,” the press secretary said.

Bondi declined to comment Friday.

Bondi signed on in July as a consultant to Qatar’s U.S. embassy, providing “support regarding Qatari relations with U.S. government officials, U.S. business entities and nongovernmental audiences, in dealing with matters pertaining to combating human trafficking,” according to Justice Department foreign agent filings. A contract amendment shows that her firm was paid $115,000 a monthfor the work she and a second lobbyist performed for the Qatari embassy.

As Florida’s top prosecutor, Bondi stressed human trafficking issues and urged tightening state laws against traffickers. One of her first clients as a Ballard lobbyist was the U.S. Institute Against Human Trafficking, an advocacy group that describes itself as a “faith-based organizationanointed by God to fight against human trafficking in America.” The group paid Ballard $80,000 this year to lobby the White House and Congress on “anti-human trafficking issues.”

A person familiar with Ballard’s operation said the firm had submitted paperwork to the Justice Department on Thursday to deregister Bondi as a foreign agent for the Qatari Embassy.

Bondi also represented the KGL Investment Company KSCC, a Kuwaiti firm that won a $1.38 billion Defense Department contract in 2018 to provide food, water and other supplies to U.S. troops in Kuwait, Iraq, Jordan and Syria. The firm has paid Ballard $300,000 this year to lobby the White House, National Security Council, State Department and Congress on immigration policy, human rights and economic sanctions issues.

The Kuwaiti company has been embroiled in a spate of legal disputes and court actions, including the imprisonment of two of its former executives in Kuwait on embezzlement charges. Ballard and several other lobbying firms working for the company have contacted administration and congressional officials, exploring whether the U.S. could use Magnitsky Act sanctions to target Kuwaiti officials who have been in a long-running dispute with the firm.

Bondi’s clients with foreign interests also included IGT Global Solutions, a subsidiary of an Italian conglomerate that manufactures slot machines and specializes in gaming and lottery software and equipment. She also represented Miami-based cruise line Carnival Corp.

Ballard Partners is also sending letters to Congress to formally end Bondi’s work as a registered lobbyist, though official notification may not be publicly available until the end of this quarter, said the person familiar with the company, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the firm’s internal matters.

White House counselor Kellyanne Conway on Thursday dismissed questions about Bondi’s lobbying, saying, “She’s not here to lobby. She’s here to make sense about how in the world we’re going to impeach or remove a democratically elected president.”

Bondi’s previous dealings with Trump had also raised ethics alarms during her tenure as Florida attorney general.

In September 2013, the nonprofit Donald J. Trump Foundation gave $25,000 to a Florida political committee supporting Bondi’s reelection campaign for attorney general. The donation came at the same time that Bondi’s office was considering whether to join other state prosecutors in suing Trump University, which ran a for-profit real estate seminar, after numerous consumer complaints.

A month later, Bondi announced that she would not be joining in the lawsuits against Trump University. Both the university and the foundation were later closed in response to state government legal actions against them.

The ethics advocacy group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington charged that the Trump nonprofit’s donation was illegal because the charity failed to report it, which would have been prohibited under federal rules governing nonprofits such as the Trump Foundation. The nonprofit later told The Washington Post that it had paid a $2,500 fine to the Internal Revenue Service for violating federal tax rules in its donation backing the pro-Bondi political organization.

A judge on Thursday ordered Trump to pay $2 million to an array of charities as a fine for misusing his own charitable foundation to further his political and business interests.

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2019/11/pam-bondi-dives-into-the-swamp/

pam Bondi, a former Florida attorney general and more recently a lobbyist at a firm with extensive ties to President Donald Trump, will join the White House communications staff temporarily to help with messaging during the ongoing impeachment inquiry, according to reports Wednesday.

Talk about a revolving door.

In September 2013, the Donald J. Trump Foundation gave $25,000 to Bondi’s campaign for reelection as attorney general. A month later, Bondi announced that Florida would not join other states suing Trump for fraud over Trump University’s marketing of its seminars on real estate and management, even though many of Trump’s alleged victims lived in Florida. A Florida state prosecutor later said there was no evidence that the donation was illegal, but the incident has left Bondi dogged by allegations that she took a bribe from Trump.

But when Bondi left office, she didn’t exactly steer clear of ethical concerns. She joined Ballard Partners, a lobbying firm that touts its ties to Trump. Brian Ballard, the firm’s founder and a former lobbyist for Trump in Florida, launched the firm in 2017, capitalizing on Trump’s election. Starting last January, Bondi helped Ballard lobby the White House for clients including General Motors, Major League Baseball, and the Government of Qatar.

Bondi will work directly for Trump. That is a resume straight out of what Trump and his allies used to call the swamp.

shortlisted for AG to replace jeff beauregard, matt whit PR disaster?

https://www.alternet.org/2019/07/florida-ag-pam-bondi-has-an-absurd-theory-for-why-hillary-clinton-is-secretly-influencing-muellers-testimony/

Former Florida attorney general Pam Bondi joins D.C. lobbying firm with ties to Trump

Pam Bondi was an early supporter of Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP)

By John Wagner January 22

Former Florida attorney general Pam Bondi has joined Ballard Partners, a lobbying firm led by a lawyer with ties to President Trump whose Washington operations have expanded significantly since Trump arrived in the White House.

Just last week, the firm announced it was hiring former deputy White House press secretary Raj Shah to help launch a new media group.

Bondi, an early supporter of Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, had been talked about as a potential replacement for Attorney General Jeff Sessions. In November, Trump told reporters that “I’d consider Pam Bondi for anything” in his administration. The president subsequently picked current attorney general nominee William P. Barr.

Bondi left office earlier this month after serving eight years as attorney general in Florida.

A news release from Ballard Partners said she has been hired to lead the firm’s corporate regulatory compliance practice.

In a statement, the firm’s president, Brian Ballard, praised Bondi as “one of Florida’s most accomplished Attorneys General” and said she had “earned a reputation among her colleagues as one of thetoughest law enforcement officials in the country.”

Ballard, whose firm is rooted in Florida, has represented Trump’s company in Tallahassee.

:{:{ John Kennedy }:

GateHouse Capital Bureau

Posted Aug 11, 2019 at 2:43 PM

Organizers of the measures — one which could break powerful monopolies held by the state’s investor-owned utilities and another aimed at banning assault-style firearms — say AG Ashley Moody isn’t giving them a fair shake.

TALLAHASSEE — Two of the most controversial ballot proposals being teed up for Florida voters are drawing harsh criticism from the state’s Republican attorney general.

And that’s prompting organizers of the measures to cry foul and accuse Attorney General Ashley Moody of playing politics with the efforts — one which could break powerful monopolies held by the state’s investor-owned utilities and another aimed at banning assault-style firearms.

After 31 people died in mass shootings in Texas and Ohio, the Florida assault weapons ban has drawn heightened attention — along with Moody’s opposition to it.

“Does it really surprise anyone that Ashley Moody would become an early and vehement opponent to a ban on assault weapons through the constitution?” asked Ben Pollara, a consultant with the campaign, Ban Assault Weapons Now.

Moody was endorsed by the National Rifle Association in her race for attorney general last year.

Out of six ballot proposals Moody has sent to the Florida Supreme Court for review, only the assault weapons ban opposed by the NRA and the utility deregulation — opposed by dozens of business groups, cities and professional associations — have been labeled “misleading” by the attorney general.

“She has gone way beyond the scope of her role in constitutional amendments,” said Alex Patton, chair of Citizens for Energy Choices, which is aimed at creating competitive energy markets where customers could choose their provider or even produce their own electricity.

The state’s four big utilities — Florida Power & Light, Tampa Electric, Gulf Power and Duke Energy — are spearheading opposition to the deregulation proposal, which faces Aug. 28 arguments before justices on whether it should be allowed to appear on the November 2020 ballot.

Among those who have weighed in against the energy amendment are House Speaker Jose Oliva, R-Miami, and Senate President Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton. Florida’s power companies contributed more than $1.5 million to the state’s Republican Party for last year’s elections, and the Florida GOP was one of Moody’s biggest donors.

A Moody spokeswoman denied that her urging the court to bar the measures from going before voters stemmed from Republican opposition.

“As a former prosecutor and judge, Attorney General Moody evaluates the legality of each initiative petition without regard for her own political preferences to determine whether it is misleading to voters,” said Lauren Schenone, who pointed out that 14 Florida members of Congress, including nine Democrats, jointly signed a letter to Moody last month supporting her opposition to the utility deregulation measure.

The letter warned the amendment could deregulate the state’s electric market while failing to create a “reliable alternative for consumers and is damaging for our state’s progress toward clean energy.”

For her part, Moody said the measure fails to “fairly inform voters of the chief purpose of the amendment — to eliminate investor-owned utilities from the electricity-generation market.”

On the assault weapons proposal, Moody called the ballot language “clearly and conclusively defective.” She said the measure’s definition of assault weapons could cover most hunting rifles and shotguns and would require creation of a new gun registry that could affect most gun owners.

Supporters of the amendment say Moody’s criticism is amped-up and mischaracterizes the intent of the effort to get high-powered weapons off the streets. Ban Assault Weapons Now is chaired by Gail Schwartz, whose nephew, Alex Schachter, a Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School student, was among 17 people killed in last year’s mass shooting on the Parkland campus.

“The Republican-led Legislature has failed to enact any kind of meaningful gun law following Parkland and now the Republican attorney general is trying to keep voters from having a say on whether assault weapons should still be allowed,” Pollara said. “The approach seems to be to obstruct and oppose what voters are calling for.”

Florida’s attorney general is responsible for asking the Supreme Court for an opinion on whether citizens’ initiatives meet two legal requirements — that the proposal address only a single subject and that the ballot summary is a fair characterization of what the measure would do.

Once a constitutional amendment campaign reaches at least 10 percent of the 766,200 needed signatures, it is eligible for court review. While all the proposals are still gathering signatures, the assault weapon ban and utility deregulation are on course to reach the full signature requirement by the Feb. 1 state deadline.

Other measures reaching the 10 percent standard but not getting criticized by Moody include ones to increase the state’s minimum wage, expand Medicaid, bolster existing law that only citizens can vote and open primary elections to all voters, not just each party’s registrants.

Moody isn’t the first Florida attorney general to highlight potential problems with a proposed constitutional amendment. State law allows the attorney general to “enumerate any specific factual issues that ... would require a judicial determination.”

Moody’s predecessor, former Republican Attorney General Pam Bondi, attached a 12-page letter to a proposed medical marijuana amendment in 2013 urging that justices keep it off the ballot because she concluded it was misleading.

Despite Bondi’s opposition, justices allowed it to go before voters and it was approved....

In August 2018, while still serving as Attorney General, Bondi co-hosted Fox News' The Five three days in a row while also appearing on Sean Hannity's Fox News show.^[17] Fox News claimed that the Florida Commission on Ethics had approved Bondi's appearance on the program; however the commission's spokeswoman told the Tampa Bay Times the opposite: that "no opinion was rendered" and that the commission's general counsel "did not express a view as to whether [Bondi's proposed hosting of the Fox shows] would or would not violate the Code of Ethics". The Times described it as "unprecedented" for a sitting elected official to host a TV show.^[17]

3/19 mar lago

year’s keynote speaker is Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (S.C.). Former Florida attorney general Pam Bondi will be the emcee.

Conservative activist James O’Keefe is listed as a special gueston the event website. O’Keefe founded Project Veritas, an organization that uses deceptive tactics against the mainstream media to secretly record conversations in an effort to embarrass its targets.

Barnett said that O’Keefe is not speaking at the event but that organizers wanted guests to know he will be there. He added that O’Keefe spoke at the Palm Beach GOP’s annual Lobsterfest two years ago and was a hit.

“He’s very popular in conservative circles,” Barnett said. “We wanted to highlight his presence at the dinner.”

atalie Martinez reported that two Republican Party officials are administrators of the private conspiracy theory Facebook group Florida Republicans United. Lou Marin and Kathy Gibson are the vice chair and state committeewoman, respectively, for the Orange County Republican Executive Committee. Gibson recently came under fire for posting a racist meme targeting Florida Democratic gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum, which she claims was posted by someone who had hacked into her Facebook account.

Numerous far-right conspiracy theories have been pushed in the group:

Administrators shared posts about the 'QAnon' conspiracy theory, which claims that there is a secret pro-Trump effort fighting against widespread sex trafficking.
Marin alleged that the mass shooting in Parkland, FL, may have been "Just Another FALSE FLAG Designed to Take YOUR Guns."
Another administrator alleged that the white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, VA, was a false flag. Another post defended the neo-Nazi who killed counterprotester Heather Heyer when he drove his car into the crowd.
Marin and others shared conspiracy theories about murdered DNC staffer Seth Rich.

Numerous Florida Republicans are listed as members of this Facebook group, including state Attorney General Pam Bondi, who recently spent a week as a guest host on Fox News.

Martinez has previously reported about top Republicans who were administrators for a racist Facebook group.

Also: Eric Hananoki reports that Dale Mensing, a congressional candidate who’s backed by the California Republican Party, wrote that the chemtrails conspiracy theory "is one of the three primary issues” of his campaign and used a video from conspiracy theorist Alex Jones as evidence.

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not much news since trump $25K bribe, but then

AMPA, Fla. -- Protesters confronted Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi at a showing of a documentary about children's TV host Fred Rogers, and they questioned the Republican's stands on immigration and health care. The Tampa Bay Times reports Bondi received a police escort Friday when several members of Organize Florida confronted her as she left a Tampa theater after seeing "Won't You Be My Neighbor" about Mr. Rogers.

The demonstrators questioned Florida joining a lawsuit against the Affordable Care Act and Bondi's general support of President Donald Trump's immigration policies.

This is at least the third time a Republican official has been confronted at a public place in recent days over the president's immigration policy that separated parents entering the country illegally at the Mexican border from their children. Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and Trump spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders left restaurants in the Washington, D.C., area after facing friction there.

On Monday, Bondi toldFox News Channel's "Fox and Friends" that one protester spit on her head.

"Now I can't say that was intentional because he was yelling so loud – I don't know if it was just him spewing out of his mouth," she said.

Bondi protester Maria Jose Chapa said there was an impromptu demonstration after someone spotted the attorney general, who has a national following as a guest on Fox News and as a friend of Trump. Video shows that as Bondi and her companion left the theater surrounded by officers, Chapa followed her yelling. A video of the incident was posted to Twitter.

Pam Bondi attempted to attend a screening of the Mister Rogers documentary a day after announcing her plan to end protections for health care consumers with pre-existing conditions. Here, via @timintampa, is what happened. pic.twitter.com/zMLrSayS8M

— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) June 23, 2018

"What would Mr. Rogers think about you and your legacy in Florida? Taking away health insurance from people with pre-existing conditions, Pam Bondi!" Chapa hollered. Another person shouted at Bondi, "You're a horrible person!" Onlookers stared agape as the procession moved past.

"Would Mr. Rogers take children away from their parents?" one woman asked.

Bondi told the Tampa Bay Times in a phone interview Saturday that the demonstrators' actions didn't comport with the lessons taught by Mr. Rogers.

"We were in a movie about anti-bullying and practicing peace and love and tolerance and accepting of people for their differences," Bondi said in interview. "That's what Mr. Rogers is all about. We all believe in free speech, but there's a big difference there."

When the Times asked Chapa if the documentary's star would have handled the situation the same, she replied, "I'm not Mr. Rogers. I don't have the poise or temperament of Mr. Rogers

trump bribes re trump uni, but she and bro on trans team:

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Rachel Maddow revisits the questions that surrounded a Donald Trump Foundation donation to the campaign of Florida A.G. Pam Bondi coinciding with her decision not to join a lawsuit against Trump University, now that a top lawyer for Bondi, Carlos Muniz, has joined the Trump administration. watch

NY suing trump U, fla paper? reports bondi looking at it, 4 days later 25K fromt trump FDN, busted

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no link

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/politics/political-pulse/os-trump-bondi-lawyer-20170411-story.html

Bondi lawyer with Trump University ties up for U.S. Education job

Pam Bondi

Attorney General Pam Bondi (Sentinel file)

Michael Biesecker, Gary Fineout

Associated Press

WASHINGTON — As a top aide to Florida’s attorney general, Carlos Munizhelped defend the office’s decision to sit out legal action against Trump University. Now the president is naming him to be the top lawyer in the U.S. Education Department.

President Donald Trump has announced his intent to nominate Muniz to serve as general counsel to Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. The Senate would then consider the nomination of the Republican lawyer.

Emails from 2013 show that Muniz, chief of staff to Attorney General Pam Bondi for three years, was included in discussions about student complaints alleging fraud with Trump’s namesake real-estate seminars.

Muniz, now in private practice, also has been the lead attorney defending Florida State Universityin a lawsuit by a former student who said the school failed to investigate after she said she was sexually assaulted by the Jameis Wintston, star quarterback of the Seminoles’ 2013 national championship football team. Winston was never charged with a crime.

An investigation by the Education Department’s Office of Civil Rights is still underway, presenting a potential conflict of interest if Muniz is confirmed.

Both Muniz and the White House declined to comment Tuesday, referring all questions to the Education Department.

The White House and Education Department did not respond to phone calls and emails seeking comment about Muniz’s involvement in the Trump University review or whether he would recuse himself from involvement in the Florida State probe.

AP reported last year that Bondi personally solicited a $25,000 political contribution from Trump as her office was weighing how to respond to questions from the Orlando Sentinel about whether she would join New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman in suing the billionaire businessman.

Though both Trump University and the Florida-based Trump Institute had stopped offering classes by the time Bondi took office in 2011, more than 20 consumer complaints had been filed by former students who said they were swindled.

Emails from August 2013 obtained under Florida’s public records law showed that Muniz was copied on discussions about how to respond to the newspaper’s request for comment, though he did not actively weigh in.

Emails show Muniz did help direct Bondi’s public defense on the issue, including an October 2013 fact sheet distributed to reporters.

:{:{}:

Days after Bondi’s office said it was reviewing the Trump U case, a political committee supporting her re-election received a $25,000 check from Trump’s charitable foundation. His daughter, Ivanka Trump, also added $500 more to support Bondi.

Bondi has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and defended her decision to accept the contribution, saying her office never seriously considered suing Trump.

Trump’s 2013 check, drawn on an account in the name of the Donald J. Trump Foundation, violated a federal prohibition against charities giving money to political groups. The issue garnered national media coverage last year during Trump’s presidential campaign, and his foundation paid a $2,500 fine to the IRS.

The illegal donation prompted a Massachusetts attorney last year to file a state bribery complaint against Bondi and Trump. A Florida prosecutor assigned to review the case informed Republican Gov. Rick Scott last week of his office’s conclusion that there was not enough evidence to move forward.

Prosecutor finds no evidence for Bondi-Trump complaint »

off bs

Bradley J. Bondi is a partner in Cahill’s litigation practice group and is a leader of its securities enforcement and regulatory practices. Brad resides in Cahill’s Washington, D.C. and New York offices.

He is a senior adviser to financial institutions and global corporations, boards of directors, audit committees, special committees and officers and directors of publicly-held companies in significant corporate and securities matters (civil or criminal), with particular emphasis on SEC and DOJ enforcement challenges, significant litigation, crisis management, internal investigations, accounting and compliance issues, and governance challenges. The Legal 500 recognized Brad for being “tenacious, knowledgeable and highly effective.” In recognizing him as one of the top 40 securities enforcement lawyers in the country, Securities Docket described Brad as “the first choice among Boards of Directors and Audit Committees of the Fortune 500 when their company is faced with SEC or DOJ problems.”

Brad advises clients in connection with regulatory enforcement actions, private lawsuits, governmental and congressional investigations arising from suspected violations of securities laws, accounting irregularities, internal controls, market manipulation, revenue recognition issues, tax-related matters, insider trading, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and other commercial bribery law compliance, compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley and Dodd-Frank Acts, potential antitrust concerns, and cybersecurity. Brad also oversees complex civil and criminal litigation, such as securities litigation, corporate control litigation, commercial litigation, contractual disputes, arbitrations, and criminal proceedings. He has litigated significant legal disputes in various state and federal courts, including serving as counsel of record for a successful amicus curiae brief before the Supreme Court of the United States inYates v. United States (construing Sarbanes-Oxley’s criminal provision for document destruction, 18 U.S.C. § 1519). He served as counsel of record for an amicus curiae brief before the Supreme Court of the United States in Salman v. United States (concerning the personal benefit element of insider trading law). In a counseling role, he regularly advises companies, financial institutions, broker-dealers, investment advisers, and hedge funds and their respective boards on issues relating to compliance with securities laws, criminal laws, SEC and FINRA rules, and governance requirements.

Brad defends public companies, financial institutions, boards, committees, and individuals in enforcement actions, prosecutions, and investigations initiated by federal and state agencies and departments, including the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Department of Justice (DOJ), United States Attorneys and grand juries, State Attorneys General, Federal Deposit Insurance Commission (FDIC), Office of the Controller of the Currency (OCC), Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), Federal Reserve, Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), and Federal Trade Commission (FTC). On occasion, Brad has served as an expert witness regarding issues relating to securities law and insider trading law.

Former Government Service:

Brad formerly served as a member of the executive staff of the SEC as Counsel to two Commissioners for enforcement actions and regulatory rulemaking.

Bradley J. Bondi - Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP

https://www.cahill.com/professionals/bradley-bondi

Bradley J. Bondi is a partner in Cahill's litigation practice group and is a leader of its securities enforcement and regulatory practices. Brad resides in Cahill's ...

Bradley J. Bondi Joins Cahill | Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP

https://www.cahill.com/news/firm-news/812023

Mar 16, 2015 - Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP is pleased to welcome Bradley J. Bondi as a Partner in the Litigation practice group and as a leader of its ...

Brad Bondi | LinkedIn

https://www.linkedin.com/in/bradbondi

Washington D.C. Metro Area - ‎Partner, Cahill Gordon & Reindel, LLP and Adjunct Professor, Georgetown University Law Center - ‎Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP

View Brad Bondi's professional profile on LinkedIn. LinkedIn ... Partner, Cahill Gordon & Reindel, LLP and Adjunct Professor, Georgetown University Law Center.

Profile Bradley Bondi — Georgetown Law

https://www.law.georgetown.edu/faculty/bondi-bradley.cfm

Partner, Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP, Adjunct Professor of Law. B.S., M.B.A., J.D., University of Florida; LL.M., Georgetown. B.S., Highest Honors (Outstanding ...

Brother of Florida AG lands job with NYC law firm | Florida Record

flarecord.com/stories/511042010-brother-of-florida-ag-lands-job-with-nyc-law-firm

Nov 10, 2016 - NEW YORK – Florida Attorney General Pamela Bondi's younger brother has recently landed a job with New York City law firm Cahill Gordon & Reindel. ... Bradley Bondi, who previously worked for Cadwalader, Wickersham ...

Cahill Taps Cadwalader for Securities Enforcement Head | The ...

www.americanlawyer.com/.../Cahill-Taps-Cadwalader-for-Securities-Enforcement-He...

Mar 19, 2015 - Bradley Bondi, head of the securities enforcement and investigation ... Wickersham & Taft, has joined Cahill Gordon & Reindel in a rare late...

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bondi 2 offices hypocrisy

http://www.alternet.org/election-2016/least-50-trump-electors-were-illegitimately-seated-electoral-college-members

...With the passage of this budget and the privatization proviso, the Florida legislature initiated one of the largest prison privatization plans in the history of the nation (comparable efforts had previously been attempted in Tennessee and Arizona). Nevertheless, in July of 2011, the Florida Police Benevolent Association (FPBA) -- the union then representing the bulk of the state's prison guards -- filed suit to enjoin the privatization plan. Essentially, FPBA argued that the privatization plan violated extant state law governing prison privatization in that the privatization mandate had been passed as a budgetary proviso -- not as a stand-alone bill.

In September, 2011, Leon County Circuit Court Judge Jackie Fullford ruled in favor of FPBA.

"This Court concludes that if it is the will of the Legislature to itself initiate privatization of Florida prisons, as opposed to [FDOC], the Legislature must do so by general law, rather than 'using the hidden recesses of the General Appropriations Act,'" opined Fullford in her ruling.

While the Scott administration had stated it would not appeal the ruling, in October, 2011, Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi filed an appeal to the Fullford ruling. In July, 2012, the appeals court struct down Bondi's appeal, ruling that the Attorney General did not have standing in the case, as Bondi was not a party listed in the original circuit court case.

In January, 2012, lawmakers championing the prison privatization agenda, led by Senate President Mike Haridopolos (R-Melbourne) and Alexander, introduced SB 2038, which -- like the budget proviso before it -- called for the privatization of the entire southern FDOC region.

Despite intensive partisan and industry lobbying on behalf of the bill, SB 2038 was defeated in the Florida Senate on February 14, 2012 (dubbed the "St. Valentine's Massacre" by opponents of the privatization plan). Interestingly enough, though many Republican senators had broken party ranks and joined with the Senate's 12 Democrats in voting the bill down, Sen. Don Gaetz (who had been a staunch supporter, along with former Rep. Sansom, of Blackwater River CF and "Project Justice"), Sen. John Thrasher (who had introduced the Senate counterpart to 2011's anti-public-emplyee-union "Paycheck Protection" bill -- a bill with ALEC roots, heavily touted by such Koch-backed public policy groups as Americans for Prosperity) and Senate President Mike Haridopolos (whose "special counsel" Andy Bardos had worked closely with the Florida Chamber of Commerce in drafting the 2011 "Paycheck Protection" bill) all joined Alexander in voting for the bill. And, as in the death of the "Paycheck Protection" bill, a handful of moderate Republicans led opposition within the state's GOP ranks. Namely, in the case of SB 2038, the Republican privatization resistance was led by Sen. Mike Fasano (R-New Port Richey), Sen. Paula Dockery (R-Lakeland -- Dockery had been an outspoken critic of Blackwater River CF as well) and Sen. Jack Latvala (R-Clearwater).

These Republican lawmakers, for whatever reason, simply could not be convinced that trading more than 3,500 state jobs for negligible savings though privatization -- at a time when both the state prison population and economy were virtually static -- was a good idea.

In a statement to the Miami Herald, one of the GOP senators who voted against the bill summed up what seemed to be the key to dissent on the issue:

"What's wrong with state employees?" said Sen. Dennis Jones (R-Seminole). "We should be taking care of them, rather than kicking them under the bus."

Sen. Fasano, then-chairman of the Senate Civil and Criminal Justice Budget Subcommittee, had been one of the most outspoken legislative critics of the Scott privatization plan, questioning, since the unveiling of the 2011 Scott budget proposal, why the Governor would push for increased spending for prison privatization when existing state-run facilities contained thousands of unoccupied beds....

http://www.prwatch.org/news/2012/08/11591/marco-rubio-geo-group-and-legacy-corruption

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/12/8/1608962/-Pam-Bondi-would-like-her-unconstitutional-death-penalty-law-back-please

http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/stateroundup/pam-bondis-career-path-could-lead-to-post-in-trumps-white-house/2304869

Trump and Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi attend the Palm Beach Lincoln Day Dinner in March at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach. [Photo by Michele Eve Sandberg/Corbis via Getty Images]

TALLAHASSEE — Pam Bondi would bring personal loyalty to Donald Trump's future administration — and political baggage, too.

Her meeting today with the president-elect at Trump Tower, ostensibly to discuss a high-level federal post, is the latest milepost in her stunning rise from local Tampa prosecutor to state attorney general to possible White House insider.

Six years ago, Bondi told a campaign rally of tea party activists at a park in St. Augustine what kind of an attorney general she would be.

"I am running to be your chief legal officer," Bondi said. "To protect you. To protect our children. To protect our seniors."

Florida's first female attorney general has focused much of her attention on drug abuse and the human trafficking slave trade that exploits children.

PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Tracing the controversy of Trump's $25,000 donation to Pam Bondi.

State toughens policy of restoring rights to free felons.

PolitiFact: Pam Bondi's record on pill mills.

After pill mill crackdown, heroin fills a void.

Florida asks highest court to block gay marriage.

Pam Bondi, with Republican attorney general coalition, involves herself in faraway court fights.

But she also has used her position as the so-called people's lawyer to push a partisan political agenda to a greater degree than her predecessors.

"The consumer, the little guy, was never her focus," said Mark Ferrulo of Progress Florida, a liberal advocacy group based in St. Petersburg. "It was the high-profile social issues that appealed to her base."

Solidly aligned with the political right and spending taxpayers' money on causes near and far, Bondi opposed the federal health care law known as Obamacare; battled legalization of medical marijuana and opposed semiautomatic weapon bans in New York and Connecticut after the Sandy Hook shooting. She sided with polluters in challenging a federal effort to clean up Chesapeake Bay and to limit carbon emissions from power plants and waged a long, failed legal assault on same-sex marriage.

Associated Press - 2012

Attorney General Pam Bondi said groups like the Republican Attorneys General Association helped her grow close to her counterparts in other states, such as South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson, second from left. She joined many of RAGA's members in challenging federal laws such as the Affordable Care Act, as well as state measures such as bans on assault weapons in Connecticut.

Mark Wilson, CEO of the Florida Chamber of Commerce, said Bondi's emphasis on street crime and social issues has served Florida's economy well.

"You don't want an attorney general that wakes up every day and doesn't look at drug abuse and doesn't look at human trafficking and sex crimes, and instead attacks job creators," Wilson said. "That's what they have in New York and they're losing to us."

Wilson was referring to New York's Democratic attorney general, Eric Schneiderman, who played an important part in the story of Bondi's political rise.

It was Schneiderman's lawsuit two years ago against Trump University that triggered months of bad publicity for Bondi — and forever linked her political fortunes to Trump himself.

'Sick irony'

Along with Trump, Bondi's stand against same-sex marriage has been the most memorable episode of her six years in office.

Her defense of the statewide ban passed by voters in 2008 made her the public face of the opposition to same-sex marriage. Her office caused a furor with the wording of a brief that argued disrupting the state's existing law on marriage would "impose significant public harm."

In the end, she drew as much ire for her continued defense of the ban. Days before she won a second term in 2014, as the legal basis for a gay marriage ban was collapsing, Bondi asked U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle to extend a stay and prevent same-sex marriages in Florida. She later balked at paying nearly $500,000 in legal fees to the winning side.

Bondi, who did not respond to requests for an interview, blamed a staffer for the wording of the brief and said she was obligated to defend the ban on gay marriage because it was in the Florida Constitution.

Foxnews.com

Bondi's prominent stands against the Affordable Care Act and gay marriage made her a star with conservatives. Attorney General Pam Bondi appears on Fox & Friends' Rising Stars segment in 2013.

Others saw it differently.

"This is how an attorney general uses the law to serve an ideology and partisan politics rather than justice," said Howard Simon of the American Civil Liberties Union.

After a gunman killed 49 people in June at Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Bondi changed her tone and sought solidarity with the LGBT community.

That led to an on-air confrontation with CNN's Anderson Cooper, who questioned her record on gay rights and called it "a sick irony" that Bondi was defending a community she had fought for so long.

"It is her duty to send a loud and clear message that Florida is a place that won't tolerate discrimination against anyone including gay and transgender people," said Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith, D-Orlando, a former lobbyist for the gay rights group Equality Florida.

In the days after the massacre, Bondi reached out to Equality Florida leader Nadine Smith, according to text messages from Bondi's phone released to the Times/Herald.

"Was just on Fox and Friends promoting Equality Florida as place to donate," Bondi texted Smith. "Can go online and watch."

After Bondi heard of a mother who refused to claim the body of her dead son when she found out he was gay, she texted: "Oh, no, Nadine. What can we do to help?"

She lined up funeral homes to ensure any unclaimed bodies received a proper burial, the text messages show, until other family members claimed the body.

Tough on street crime

Before riding a tea party wave to her job as the state's top legal officer, Bondi was a prosecutor in Hillsborough County. In nearly two decades there, she polished her legal and political résumé and became a fixture on the 6 o'clock news in Tampa.

Bondi often refers to her career as a prosecutor as evidence of being tough on street crime, which has become a primary focus for her as attorney general.

One of her first decisions on the Florida Cabinet was to make it harder for convicted felons to regain their civil rights, including the right to vote. Bondi joined with Gov. Rick Scott to dismantle a streamlined clemency process begun under former Gov. Charlie Crist.

Most states allow convicted felons to vote after they've completed their sentences, and several Democratic governors have issued blanket orders restoring rights to people convicted of non-violent crimes.

Florida now has one of the strictest laws in the United States for felons to regain their rights. Past lawbreakers must be crime-free for at least five years before they can petition the state to have their rights restored — a process that can take up to a decade.

"Felons (must) first prove their rehabilitation through the test of time, before having their rights restored," Bondi said when the new system began.

Bondi reverted to her prosecutor persona in a successful campaign against pill mills. In her first term, Bondi pushed hard for increased penalties for doctors who abused their power to prescribe painkillers at clinics that were attracting addicts to Florida from all over the country.

Associated Press - 2011

Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi — flanked by members of law enforcement and Gov. Rick Scott, right — talks about the state's pill mill crisis during a March 2011 news conference.

After the state enacted tougher rules, overdose deaths from prescription painkillers like oxycodone and hydrocodone fell by almost 1,000 cases in just two years, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

But since then, another drug epidemic has filled the void. Heroin-related deaths have skyrocketed more than tenfold from 62 in 2011 to 779 in 2015.

Drug treatment experts say that after the pill mills closed, money for drug treatment did not increase.

"The issue with pill mills is it was a very legal, legitimate way for individuals to become addicted," said Marvin Coleman, vice president of Operation PAR, a treatment center in Pinellas Park. "Some of those individuals have gone into treatment, which is good. Some of them have continued to use, and they've gone to heroin."

The arrival of cheap heroin from Mexico and the pervasiveness of fentanyl, a deadly opiate used to heighten the potency of weak heroin, fed a market of addicts in search of supply, said Jim Hall, an epidemiologist at Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale who studies drug addiction.

"As long as we had people addicted to opiates, the demand was going to remain and would fuel the epidemic," he said.

Bondi has made human trafficking another top priority, featuring the issue prominently on her website and in her legislative budget requests....

https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/1339573/3-ag-bondi.pdf

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Kim Campagna

11/5/2013 4:01:08 PM

To: The Honorable Pam Bondi

cc: The Honorable Pam Bondi ,The Honorable Pam

Bondi

Subject: Message on Behalf of Mark Shurtleff and Patrick Lynch

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Money sent to “Justice for All” or “And Justice for All” Groups Associated with Bondi

9/23/13 Republican State Leadership Committee Florida PAC $500,000

12/13/13 Republican State Leadership Committee Florida $50,000

1/28/14 Republican State Leadership Committee-Florida PAC $100,000

10/06/14 Republican Attorneys General Association $100,000

Until early 2014, RAGA was a part of the Republican State Leadership Committee

CONTRIBUTIONS IN 2013 FROM DICKSTEIN AND ONE OF ITS ATTORNEY GENERAL CLIENTS

And Justice For All Lori Kalani 11/10/2013 $1,000

Justice for All Bernard Nash 11/22/13 $1,000

Justice for All Dickstein Shapiro, 11/30/13 $1,000

Florida Republican Party Dickstein Shapiro 2/28/2013 $2,500

Florida Republican Party Lori Kalani 2/28/2013 $2,000

Florida Republican Party Bernard Nash 2/28/2013 $2,000

Florida Republican Party Milton Marquis 2/28/2013 $500

Florida Republican Party Chris Tampio 2/28/2013 $250

And Justice for ALL ETC Capital 9/13/2013 $ 10,000.00

New Records Shed Light on Donald Trump's $25,000 Gift to Florida Official

New York Times‎ - 2 days ago

Donald J. Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi of Florida in March at Mar-a-Lago in Palm ...

Marco Rubio and Patrick Murphy cower, Pam Bondi pleads ignorance, and teachers leave Florida

Orlando Sentinel‎ - 14 hours ago

Trump signed improper charity check supporting Florida attorney general

Chicago Tribune‎ - 19 hours ago

More news for pam bondi

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Pam Bondi - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/**Pam**_**Bondi**

Wikipedia

Pamela Jo "Pam" Bondi (born November 17, 1965) is an American attorney, politician and member of the Republican Party who serves as the current Attorney General of Florida.

Early life and education · ‎Personal life · ‎Early career · ‎Attorney General

Florida Attorney General - Attorney General Pam Bondi

www.myfloridalegal.com/.../1515CE372E59D1E885256CC...

Florida Attorney General

A native of Tampa, Pam Bondi became Florida's 37th Attorney General after being elected on November 2, 2010. Attorney General Bondi was sworn in to office ...

Florida Attorney General - Home Page

www.myfloridalegal.com/

Florida Attorney General

Attorney General Pam Bondi, Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings and the Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation today announced the arrests of 21 individuals ...

Pam Bondi | Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/**pambondi**

Welcome to the Facebook page about Attorney General Pam Bondi. Paid for by the Republican Party of Florida. Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's.

wiki

Pamela Jo** "**Pam**" **Bondi** (born November 17, 1965) is an American attorney, politician and member of the Republican Party who serves as the current Attorney General of Florida.^[1]

Early life and education

Bondi's hometown is Temple Terrace, Florida. Her father, Joseph Bondi, was a city councilmember and then Mayor of Temple Terrace. She is a graduate of C. Leon King High School in Tampa, Florida. Bondi graduated from the University of Florida in 1987 with a degree in Criminal Justice. She then graduated from Stetson Law School with a JD in 1990 and was admitted to the Florida Bar on June 24, 1991.^[2]

Career

She is a former prosecutor and spokeswoman in Hillsborough County, Florida where she worked as an Assistant State Attorney. Bondi resigned this position to seek the office of Attorney General of Florida. She has made guest appearances on Scarborough Country with Joe Scarborough and various other cable news programming on MSNBC and worked forFox News as a legal analyst.^[3]

Bondi prosecuted former Major League Baseball player Dwight Gooden in 2006 for violating the terms of his probation and for substance abuse.^[4][5] Bondi also prosecuted the Martin Anderson death defendants in 2007.^[6]

Attorney General

In 2010, Bondi defeated Democratic State Senator Dan Gelber by a 55% to 41% margin to become the Attorney General of the State of Florida.^[7]

Bondi was the lead attorney general in an unsuccessful lawsuit seeking to overturn the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) in Florida et al v. United States Department of Health and Human Services. In the lawsuit the State of Florida and 26 other states argued that the individual mandate provision of the PPACA violates the United States Constitution.^[8]

Bondi was re-elected in November 2014, receiving 55% of the vote. Her challenger, George Sheldon, received 42%.^[9]

Controversies

Bondi has been criticized for election fundraising activities, including questions raised about contributions from Donald Trump and his associates.^[10] The Florida Attorney General's office received at least 22 fraud complaints about Trump University. In 2013 a spokesperson for Bondi announced her office was considering joining a lawsuit initiated by New York's Attorney General against Trump regarding tax fraud.^[11][12] Four days later 'And Justice for All', a PAC that supported Bondi's re-election campaign received a $25,000 donation from the Donald J. Trump Foundation, after which Bondi declined to join the lawsuit against Trump University. According to a Bondi spokesman, Bondi personally solicited the donation from Trump several weeks before her office announced it was considering joining the lawsuit against him.^[13][14][15]

In March 2016 after Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filed a complaint with the IRS about the potentially illegal donation,^[16][17] the Trump Foundation stated that the donation was made in error and that they had intended for it to go to an unrelated Kansas non-profit called Justice for All. When the controversy first arose in 2013, both the PAC and Donald Trump had defended the propriety of the donation.^[18][19] On March 14, 2016 Bondi endorsed Trump in the Florida presidential primary, saying she has been friends with Trump "for many years”.^[20][21] In June 2016 a spokesperson for Governor Rick Scott stated that the state's ethics commission is looking into the matter.^[22] In September 2016 it was reported that the donation violated laws against political contributions from nonprofit organizations, and that Donald Trump had reimbursed the foundation from his own money and paid the IRS an excise tax as a penalty.^[23] Trump has said in the past that he expects and receives favors from politicians to whom he gives money.^[24][25]

Bondi has opposed same-sex marriage and other LGBT issues on behalf of the state. Following the Orlando nightclub shooting in June 2016, Bondi was interviewed byCNN reporter Anderson Cooper, who questioned her about her sudden change in attitude towards the LGBT community in Florida. Bondi claimed to not only support the gay community, but had posted as such on her website. This statement was later shown to be false. Bondi in a radio interview stated that the CNN interview had not been aired in its entirety and most of it was left on the cutting room floor, omitting the portion about potential scamming of survivors' families. While the entire interview had been aired live, only the portion involving Bondi's position on LGBT issues was originally uploaded to the CNN website. The website featured the interview in its entirety following this comment.^[26][27][28]

In 2013, Bondi persuaded Governor Rick Scott to postpone a scheduled execution because it conflicted with her reelection kickoff/fundraising event.^[29] After questions were raised in the media, Bondi apologized for moving the execution date.^[30][31]

Personal life

Bondi married Garret Barnes in 1990, and they divorced after 22 months. In 1996, Bondi married Scott Fitzgerald. Their marriage ended in divorce after 6 years.^[32]

...