4 subjects Pam Bondi's critics urge senators to ask Donald Trump's choice for attorney general
This story has been corrected to reflect that Pam Bondi declined to join a New York state lawsuit against Trump University .
WASHINGTON – Pam Bondi, President-elect Donald Trump’s choice to lead the Justice Department, proved her support by representing him during his first Senate impeachment trial, attending his New York criminal trial and campaigning with him this year.
But critics focused on at least four subjects for senators to question Florida's former attorney general about before she is confirmed:
Bondi declined to join a New York state lawsuit against Trump University after receiving a $25,000 contribution from Trump.
Bondi helped question the results of the 2020 election.
Bondi lobbied for Qatar, a U.S. partner in the Middle East that also hosted leaders from the terror group Hamas.
Bondi persuaded the governor to postpone an execution to attend a fundraiser.
Bondi has long been a supporter of Trump, serving on his Opioid and Drug Abuse Commission during his first term. Trump praised her as a former prosecutor for nearly 20 years and as a former state attorney general who could overhaul the federal department.
“For too long, the partisan Department of Justice has been weaponized against me and other Republicans – Not anymore,” Trump said in a statement. “Pam will refocus the DOJ to its intended purpose of fighting Crime and Making America Safe Again.”
A Trump campaign spokesperson didn't immediately respond to questions about issues that Bondi's critics have raised.
Here is are some of the questions Bondi could face in her confirmation hearing:
Bondi declined to join lawsuit against Trump University after campaign contribution
Bondi, who served as Florida’s attorney general from 2011 to 2019, received a $25,000 contribution to her reelection campaign in 2013 from the Donald J. Trump Foundation. The IRS later fined the foundation for violating campaign contribution law.
A month later, Bondi announced that Florida wouldn’t join other states suing Trump for fraud over Trump University’s marketing of real estate seminars.
Trump eventually reached a $25 million settlement to end two class-action lawsuits involving 6,000 students who argued the school failed to teach them the promised secrets of his real estate success and the New York lawsuit. The settlement included $1 million for violating New York education laws because the “university” offered no degrees or traditional education.A Massachusetts lawyer, J. Whitfield Larrabee, alleged Trump effectively bribed Bondi not to join the lawsuits. But a Florida prosecutor from the office of State Attorney Stephen Russell investigated and found there was no evidence of a bribe.
“There’s nothing contained therein that Larrabee had any direct knowledge, physical evidence or sworn testimonial evidence that the offense of bribery occurred,” wrote Amira D. Fox, Russell’s chief assistant attorney. “The majority of the complaint consists of insinuation without any material evidence in support.”
Bondi has denied any wrongdoing and said she would never let money stop an investigation.
“The Florida Ethics Panel cleared Pam Bondi," said Alex Pfeiffer, a Trump transition spokesperson. "This is old, discredited news.”But Tristen Snell, a former assistant attorney general in New York who participated in the litigation against Trump University, urged senators to ask about the contribution.
“If she doesn’t give a good enough answer, ask more questions,” Snell wrote on social media.
Bondi helped Trump question 2020 election results
Bondi appeared at a news conference outside the Pennsylvania Convention Center on Nov. 4, 2020, with the president’s son, Eric Trump, and then-campaign lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, to complain about how ballots were being counted in the key swing state.
Bondi said falsely that Trump had won the state despite President Joe Biden’s victory there that year. She criticized a barrier being erected that she said prevented observers from seeing how ballots were being counted.
“It looks like intimidation to me,” Bondi said. “We’ve won Pennsylvania and we want every vote to be counted in a fair way.”
Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., who won his Senate race this year and will be voting on Bondi’s nomination, said she should be questioned about denying the 2020 election results.
“Pam Bondi was one of the election deniers out there very early on in Pennsylvania making claims of fake ballots,” Schiff told MSNBC on Thursday. “So if she is going to be the attorney general, what does that mean in terms of how Donald Trump and the Justice Department treat all of those people convicted of assaulting police officers on Jan. 6th?”
Bondi lobbied for Qatar
Bondi lobbied for Qatar’s embassy while a partner at Ballard Partners, which reported paying $375,000 during a six-month period in 2018 and 2019.
The State Department has strong relations with Qatar, a country it said plays a constructive financial, political and military role in partnership with the U.S. and has contributed to stability in the region.
But the department also reported significant human rights abuses in Qatar, including the enforced disappearance of social media users and human rights advocates, arbitrary arrest, gender-based violence and serious restrictions on free expression.
Steve Schmidt, who worked on presidential campaigns of George W. Bush and the late Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., but has been sharply critical of Trump, called Bondi’s lobbying disqualifying because Qatar harbored leaders of the terror group Hamas.“She is unfit,” Schmidt said on social media.
Bondi asked to delay an execution for a campaign event
Then-Gov. Rick Scott, who is now a senator who will be voting on Bondi’s confirmation, said she persuaded him to postpone Marshall Lee Gore’s execution but he didn’t realize it was to avoid a conflict with a September 2013 fundraiser.
Bondi later acknowledged she shouldn’t have requested the delay to avoid the night of her campaign kickoff.
“As a prosecutor, there was nothing more important than seeing justice done, especially when it came to the unconscionable act of murder,” Bondi said in a statement. “I personally put two people on death row and, as attorney general, have already participated in eight executions since I took office, a role I take very seriously.”
Gore had been convicted of killing two women in Miami 25 years earlier.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 4 questions for Pam Bondi, Trump's choice for attorney general