'Where the danger lies': Trump’s pick for AG has history of bending law for big donors
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. The report claimed 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 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.
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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 stated, that changed after the Trump Foundation made a $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."