Politics

5 things you need to know about Pam Bondi

Published

2 years ago

November 22, 2024

One of Donald Trump’s most loyal supporters just got picked for one of the most important roles in his second administration.

Pam Bondi, the former attorney general of Florida, was chosen Thursday to be the nation’s top law enforcement official by Trump just hours after Matt Gaetz withdrew from consideration in the face of Senate opposition.

Bondi is a partner at Ballard Partners, the lobbying firm that had been run by Trump’s incoming chief of staff Susie Wiles and whose founder, Brian Ballard, is a top Trump fundraiser. She is co-chair of the law and justice division at the pro-Trump America First Policy Institute, which has been likened to a Trump administration in waiting.

Bondi is a longtime Trump ally and after he was elected in 2016, her name was floated for various jobs in the administration but it never panned out.

She appears more likely to have an easier path to confirmation as attorney general than Gaetz, who was dogged by allegations of sexual misconduct and illegal drug use.

Here are five things to know about Bondi:

She was the first female attorney general in Florida

Bondi served as Florida’s attorney general from 2011-2019, the first woman to hold the office. She initiated the state’s litigation against opioid manufacturers. It was settled after she left office.

She left office because of term limits and worked for Trump’s transition team after his first victory.

She has a close relationship with Lara Trump

Bondi has a close relationship with Lara Trump, the president-elect’s daughter-in-law and chair of the Republican National Committee. The two campaigned together against a ban on dog racing in the state.

On Tuesday, Bondi advocated for Lara Trump to be the replacement for Sen. Marco Rubio, Trump’s pick for secretary of State.

She’s a former Trump lawyer

Bondi assisted Trump in his first impeachment fight as a senior adviser and lawyer, making the rounds on TV to help his case. Trump was impeached on charges of abusing his power and obstructing congressional investigations but the Senate acquitted him of the charges.

She nixed the Trump University fraud case

In 2016, news emerged that Trump paid a $2,500 fine because his foundation improperly donated $25,000 to Bondi’s political election committee in 2013 before her office opted not to pursue a fraud investigation into Trump University. Trump eventually paid $25 million to settle fraud complaints against the now-defunct university.

Bondi said she was unaware of Trump University complaints at the time and that the contribution had nothing to do with her office’s decision not to pursue the case. Trump has said he admired Bondi for never backing away from him amid the controversy.

Her dog custody battle played out publicly

Bondi was involved in a custody battle with Hurricane Katrina victims over a St. Bernard she adopted in 2005 after the dog was separated from his family during the storm.

The family had been trying to find the dog and Bondi refused to return him. She accused the family of neglect the animal, an allegation they denied.

The family sued, and the dispute lasted 16 months until the two sides settled before trial. Bondi returned the dog to the family with food and medication.

Politics

World Cup fuels ticketing reform demands

Published

13 hours ago

June 21, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Demands are growing for a political reckoning over ticket scams at the World Cup — and beyond.

The National Independent Venue Association and Fan Alliance, organizations representing and advocating for entertainment venues and artists respectively, sent a joint letter to Congress on Thursday, calling on lawmakers to ban speculative and ghost tickets, cases where resellers flog tickets they don’t actually have.

The letter — addressed to Speaker Mike Johnson, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer — includes nearly two dozen accounts of fans who say they were scammed out of thousands of dollars trying to get tickets to the World Cup, which began last week. The groups are also asking fans to share their own stories with elected officials via the Fix the Tix Fan Action Center that launched last week.

“Every one of these stories erodes the public’s faith that consumers should and will be protected from fraud,” NIVA Executive Director Stephen Parker and Fan Alliance founder Donald Cohen wrote. “We urge Congress to work with us to prevent fraud like this in the future and finally enact ticket resale consumer protections that will protect Americans and ensure affordability.”

The letter flagged fans like Dacy Gillespie, who bought World Cup tickets for her sons on Christmas, only to learn on match day — months later — that the seller couldn’t deliver them. And Skylie Shore, who Parker and Cohen said spent well over $6,000 on tickets to the Scotland-Haiti match on June 13, but was forced to wait outside the stadium because she couldn’t access them as fans marched in on gameday.

“These examples reveal a consistent pattern: consumer deception, speculative ticket sales, and broken-hearted American families at the hands of resale ticketing companies like StubHub,” Parker and Cohen wrote.

In a statement, StubHub spokesperson Jack Sterne said that the platform does not allow speculative ticket sales, and blamed FIFA for users’ difficulty in accessing their tickets.

“We understand that attending the World Cup represents a significant investment in time and money, and we take our responsibility to every fan who books through our platform seriously,” Sterne said in a statement. “Many of the issues fans are facing trace back to the event organizer’s technology infrastructure, newly announced transfer restrictions, and a new app that was launched just a month ago.”

In response, FIFA said in a statement that the organization “can guarantee the validity and delivery of tickets purchased through its official platforms” and that FIFA.com/tickets “is the official ticket sales channel” for the tournament.

NIVA and Fan Alliance are urging congressional leadership to place universal price-gouging limits on ticket resale, enact stringent fines on perpetrators and a violation-reporting mechanism for ticket scams, and require secondary ticketing platforms to produce data on ticket fulfillment and consumer complaints.

The groups are not the only ones monitoring for evidence of shady ticket practices. Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway issued a consumer guidance in advance of the tournament, urging match-goers to beware of fraud and promising to hold offenders accountable. And the FBI in May put out a public service announcement, warning fans against purchasing tickets on copycat websites modeled on FIFA’s.

“With the World Cup coming to Kansas City, excitement is high and, unfortunately, so is the potential for fraud,” Hanaway said in her statement. “Missourians should be able to enjoy this once-in-a-generation event without fear of being deceived. My office will hold accountable anyone who seeks to exploit our families, and we stand ready to assist anyone who encounters suspicious activity.”