Time and again, Pam Bondi has shown us that she is willing to put her loyalty to Donald Trump above the rule of law, above ethical standards, and above the public good. 

As the United States Attorney General, she has weaponized the Justice Department to shield Trump from accountability, to attack his enemies, and to advance his authoritarian agenda. 

But her history of looking out for Trump – and not the law – started long before this year. To understand how we got here, it’s worth looking back at her record.

The Relationship Begins: The Trump University Scandal

Bondi’s ties to Trump began long before she became his top law enforcer. In 2013, when she was Florida’s attorney general, reports of fraud at Trump University were piling up around the country, with students alleging they had been exploited for thousands of dollars. [CITE] Florida was one of the for-profit school’s biggest markets, but Bondi’s office declined to formally investigate, despite claims of deceptive practices being filed in the state. This announcement came just shortly after Trump made a $25,000 donation to a political action committee supporting Bondi’s re-election.

While Florida’s Ethics Commission said the situation “may raise suspicions,” it stopped short of finding that Bondi broke the law. But this was the first of many controversies that would arise across Bondi’s career and her political relationship with Trump.

From Florida Attorney General to Trump’s Inner Circle

When her time as Florida’s AG ended, Bondi joined Ballard Partners, a lobbying firm with deep Trump ties and clients that included the Qatari government (this resulted in a massive conflict of interest years later when Bondi approved Trump’s acceptance of a $400 million luxury plane gifted by Qatar). 

She left Ballard Partners when Trump’s first impeachment trial began. In 2019, she joined the White House communications team, and by 2020, she was on Trump’s impeachment trial defense team.

After Trump’s loss in the 2020 election, Bondi became one of the loudest voices spreading his lies about voter fraud. In states like Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, she pushed baseless claims of election rigging.. Her eagerness to repeat Trump’s falsehoods likely helped her earn the office of the attorney general in the current administration. 

Weaponizing the Justice Department

Once confirmed as U.S. Attorney General, Bondi quickly turned the Justice Department into a powerful arm of Trump’s political machine. She has allowed the White House to dictate sensitive legal decisions, fired whistleblowers who crossed Trump’s line, and scrapped entire divisions meant to keep the government accountable. 

Here are just a few examples of how she has completely gutted the Justice Department and what it is supposed to stand for:

• Disobeying court orders on immigration: Former senior immigration lawyer and whistleblower Erez Reuveni alleges Bondi fired him after he pushed back against Justice Department efforts to defy immigration-related court orders, including in relation to the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Maryland man falsely sent to an El Salvadorian prison this spring.
• Shutting down corruption investigations: Under her watch, the Public Integrity Section — the DOJ’s unit for prosecuting corruption by government officials — was effectively disbanded. Enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which bans U.S. companies from bribing foreign officials, was also suspended.
• Twisting the Civil Rights Division: Instead of protecting vulnerable communities, Bondi redirected the Civil Rights Division to attack transgender youth, punish schools for teaching honest American history, and go after “anti-Christian bias.”
• Targeting Trump’s enemies: Bondi authorized investigations into several of Trump’s political opponents, including Rep. Adam Schiff, New York Attorney General Letitia James, and former intelligence officials John Brennan and James Comey. Each of these officials have at one point helped lead investigations or prosecutions of Trump. 
• Protecting Trump from the Epstein Files: After months of teasing the full release of the information included in the Epstein Files, the Justice Department abruptly shut down the investigation in July, announcing that no further documents would be made public. The reversal came the same summer Bondi reportedly told Trump his name appeared in the files. 

Her willingness to ignore legal and ethical standards and turn the Justice Department into Trump’s personal legal defense office underscores what a Justice Department veteran told Người New York: “In Pam Bondi, Donald Trump has the Attorney General he always wanted.”

The Latest Power Grab: Taking Over D.C. Policing

Bondi’s most recent move has pushed her loyalty to authoritarian extremes. She put the head of the DEA in charge of Washington, D.C. ‘s local police, an unprecedented federal takeover of the city’s law enforcement.

Cái này “takeover” isn’t really about crime — D.C. recorded its lowest violent crime rates in 30 years in 2024. Instead, it’s a test of how far Trump’s administration can go in consolidating power. With Bondi at his beck and call, Trump is already threatening to send the military to Chicago and Baltimore, raising fears of federal crackdowns in other cities.

Pam Bondi is Trump’s Attorney General, Not Ours

The attorney general holds an incredibly important responsibility in our democracy: to impartially uphold the law, defend the Constitution, and protect the rights of the people.

Tuy nhiên, Pam Bondi’s career has repeatedly demonstrated that she is loyal to Donald Trump, regardless of the cost to ethics, democracy, or the American people. From the Trump University scandal to her work as his impeachment defender, from weaponizing the Justice Department to taking over D.C.’s police, Bondi has made it clear that she sees her role not as serving the public, but as protecting Trump.

In her, Trump has found not an attorney general for the nation, but his own personal enforcer. And that should outrage us all.