Friday, November 22, 2024

Pamala Jo Bondi now the DOJ/AG nominee, from Florida, per decision of Trump/Wiles

 She has a Wikipedia page, CREW was on her case, and she looks like a hack.

U Florida undergrad degree, Stetson law degree. Staying in the South back then.

FL AG -- January 4, 2011 – January 8, 2019

AP reports:

Bondi worked as a lobbyist for Ballard Partners, the powerful Florida-based firm where Trump’s campaign chief and incoming chief of staff Susie Wiles was a partner. Her U.S. clients have included General Motors, the commissioner of Major League Baseball and a Christian anti-human-trafficking advocacy group.

She also lobbied for a Kuwaiti firm, according to Justice Department foreign agent filings and congressional lobbying documents. She registered as a foreign agent for the government of Qatar; her work was related to anti-human-trafficking efforts leading up to the World Cup, held in 2022.

Bondi also represented the KGL Investment Company KSCC, a Kuwaiti firm also known as KGLI, lobbying the White House, National Security Council, State Department and Congress on immigration policy, human rights and economic sanctions issues.

[...]  Bondi personally solicited a 2013 political contribution from Trump as her office was weighing whether to join New York in suing over fraud allegations involving Trump University.

Trump cut a $25,000 check to a political committee supporting Bondi from his family’s charitable foundation, in violation of legal prohibitions against charities supporting partisan political activities. After the check came in, Bondi’s office nixed suing Trump’s company for fraud, citing insufficient grounds to proceed. Both Trump and Bondi denied wrongdoing.

Two days before being sworn in as president in January 2017, Trump paid $25 million to settle three lawsuits alleging Trump University defrauded its students.

Trump also paid a $2,500 fine to the IRS over the illegal political donation to support Bondi from the Donald J. Trump Foundation, which he was forced to dissolve amid an investigation by the state of New York.

Kind of unimpressive. Crabgrass believes Gaetz would have been more competent and would have provided more controversial DOJ management. 

But it's a guess. 

___________UPDATE___________

Thinking a bit, Bondi was Florida AG 2011-19, and what was news down there then?

search = Pam-Bondi Maria-Schiavo

Routine hits, nothing super. Then, the big one that lit up differently -

search = Pam Bondi jeffrey epstein

First two hits:

Times of India asked, 

Did Pam Bondi let Jeffrey Epstein slide; accept bribe from Tr...

Raw Story answered,

She 'let Jeffrey Epstein slide': Critics blast Trump's latest 'corr... 

That is a pair of returns that cannot be fairly overlooked. Times of India wrote:

[...]  Bondi served as Florida's attorney general from 2011 to 2019 and represented Trump at his first impeachment trial in the Senate.

Democrats accused Pam Bondi of letting sex offender Jeffrey Epstein slide. "The same Pam Bodi who let Jeffrey Epstein slide," Democrat strategist Ameshia Cross posted as Donald Trump named her as the attorney general heaping praises on her and spelling out her credentials. 

"If you ever wonder how Jeffrey Epstein was able to walk the Earth unprosecuted and have all of his contacts sealed, look no farther than Pam Bondi. Pam Bondi is the reason Jeffrey Epstein, and all of his information is sealed in the state of Florida," one post read.

No one in elective office shielded Jeffrey Epstein more than Pam Bondi.

"No one has taken more illegal trips, benefits and cash from conservative billionaires than Mrs. Bondi. No one has ever been elected that will sell out their constituents to line their pockets than Pam!" another wrote.
Author and investigative journalist Kirby Sommers pointed out that former Florida Governor Jeb Bush endorsing Pam Bondi is crucial as Jeb Bush was protecting Jeffrey Epstein.


Did Pam Bondi take a bribe from Donald Trump?


In 2013, Bondi's office received complaints from people alleging they had been scammed by Donald Trump's Trump University seminars. Florida did not pursue the case and Bondi's political committee received a $25000 donation from Donald Trump's foundation. At that time both Trump and Bondi denied any donation and link to that.
Bondi has a record of high-profile cases in her attorney general career. She helped appoint the special prosecutor who investigated the 2012 shooting of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed Black teen, by a neighborhood volunteer.

Okay. Not only the $25,000 Trump University situation noted earlier. But Epstein got his sweetheart deal with Bondi as AG. And, she oversaw the Trayvon Martin murder being papered over.

Raw Story wrote:

She 'let Jeffrey Epstein slide': Critics blast Trump's latest 'corrupt' Cabinet pick

She 'let Jeffrey Epstein slide': Critics blast Trump's latest 'corrupt' Cabinet pick
FILE PHOTO: Former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi speaks during a press conference by supporters of former U.S. President Donald Trump after they attended his trial for allegedly covering up hush money payments linked to extramarital affair with Stormy Daniels, in Manhattan, New York City, U.S., May 21, 2024. REUTERS/David 'Dee' Delgado/File Photo

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."

ALSO READ: A giant middle finger from a tiny craven man

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?"

So, after the murders of many at the gay night club, her opposition to gay marriage remains a rankling thing to Florida's large gay community. And the bribe and the cushy Florida sentence of Epstein on her and U.S. Attorney Acosta's watch.

This nomination has more worry over ethics than Gaetz letting the little head override the thinking in the larger head. Gaetz partied. Bondi compromised.

Next, as a follow-up

search = Pam Bondi trayvon martin

That shows in March 2012 Bondi went vanilla on Facebook:



And then, many months later, CBS News reported in July 2013 she and Gov. Scott did further ass covering:

The Orlando Sentinel reports Scott and Bondi appointed State Attorney Angela B. Corey, whose office handles cases in Duval, Clay and Nassau counties.

On Thursday, Scott created a task force headed by Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll to review Florida's 2005 "Stand Your Ground" law, which allows people to use deadly force if they think their lives or others' are in imminent danger or they face "great bodily harm."

Brevard-Seminole State Attorney Norm Wolfinger signed a letter requesting the special prosecutor, saying he was acting "with the intent of toning down the rhetoric and preserving the integrity of this investigation."

"In the interest of the public safety of the citizens of Seminole County and to avoid even the appearance of a conflict of interest, I would respectfully request the executive assignment of another state attorney for the investigation and any prosecution arising from the circumstances surrounding the death of Trayvon B. Martin," Wolfinger wrote.

On her watch, she did a hand-off, after the pro-forma Facebook non-starter.

I'd have preferred Gaetz for the job. That $25,000 payment and bailing on the Trump University fraud joinder, is raw.