Commentary: AG nominee is a Trump flunky bent on repressing protesters
On November 25, President-elect Donald Trump announced his nomination of Pam Bondi for U.S. Attorney General. Bondi, from Tampa, is the former AG for the state of Florida. If confirmed, she would head the Department of Justice, which oversees agencies like the FBI and the DEA.
“The most important job after president of the United States in the next administration, it's not me. It's who we select as attorney general,” said Vice President-elect JD Vance, in an interview with National Public Radio.
This nomination marks two important shifts. First, the U.S. government is so polarized that a Trump DOJ will make no attempt to appear like blind justice, above partisan politics. Second, Trump wants to leverage federal powers to trample on the right to assemble.
Bondi: A corrupt stooge
He announced his decision within hours of his prior nomination, U.S. Representative Matt Gaetz, stepping down. Trump chose Gaetz for his political loyalty but had to abandon him because the congressman faced a federal investigation for sex trafficking. Bondi was clearly on Trump’s short list. She’s already predicted to have a smoother ride getting confirmed, considering her background in prosecution.
This incoming administration has former AGs Jeff Sessions and William Barr in the rearview mirror. Both fell out of Trump’s favor for breaking ranks when he came under investigation. Bondi, on the other hand, has a tried-and-true history of dedication.
Her allegiance dates to 2013, when her office suddenly went back on investigating Trump University. Within days of this reversal, a political action committee supporting Bondi’s re-election campaign received a $25,000 contribution from the Donald J. Trump Foundation. In 2016, Bondi showed up at a rally for Trump. In 2020, she served on his legal team during his first impeachment trial. She joined the cries to “stop the steal” when Trump lost that year’s election. In May 2023, she showed up for his criminal trial.
As Florida’s attorney general, Bondi opposed gay marriage and joined a lawsuit against the Affordable Care Act. Her time in the private sector included lobbying for Amazon and Uber. She currently chairs the legal arms of the America First Policy Institute, a pro-Trump think tank.
In a recent Daily Caller article, Bondi’s former employees hint that her DOJ would exonerate Trump and prosecute opponents in the Democratic Party.
Ready to criminalize protest
Bondi made headlines after her October 2023 Newsmax interview on student activists. “Frankly, they need to be taken out of our country, or the FBI needs to be interviewing them right away when they’re saying, ‘I support Hamas. I am Hamas,’” she said.
That is dangerous, because DOJ courts are responsible for hearing deportation cases. Convictions for “crimes involving moral turpitude” are grounds for deportation under the Immigration and Nationality Act, even for legal permanent residents and visa holders. These can include misdemeanors, such as hate crime (often interpreted to include anti-Zionism), harassment, and other charges unjustly leveraged against protesters. There are potential legal defenses, depending on the case.
On top of this, Bondi declared that the FBI should investigate protesters. This goes farther than anything Trump has said in public. It would also represent a clear violation of First Amendment rights.
Beyond these statements on Palestine solidarity, she’s drafted plans to crack down on the Black Liberation Movement.
Less than a week after Trump won this year’s election, Bondi’s wing of the America First Policy Institute released a report on Portland, Oregon protests during the George Floyd and Breonna Taylor rebellion. It promises an “America First approach to liberal violence.”
The timing could not send a clearer signal that the AG nominee is foaming at the mouth for racist and political repression. The report’s choice of city is also significant. Portland is where unmarked federal agents picked people off the streets in 2020.
For now, a 2021 law requires federal officers to wear visible identification while conducting crowd control. Movement organizations won this after Portland’s uprising.
The report also blames “rogue progressive prosecutors” for dropping charges against “over 90%” of Portland protesters, indicating Bondi’s willingness to maximize prosecutions against activists.
All this said, Bondi shares a home city with the Tampa 5. These five women faced trumped-up felony charges for protesting attacks on diversity in education, but they defeated all counts. Like them, Palestine solidarity protesters from coast to coast have stood up in court and have often won. The most successful fightback strategies rely on aggressive defense attorneys and public support campaigns. The more pitched the battle with injustice, the more this system will show its rot.